The Alcohol Service

Updated 19 January 2023

The Alcohol Service is run by Change, Grow Live, a national substance misuse services provider. This location was registered on 10 July 2019, it had not been inspected prior to the current inspection.

The location provides the regulated activity Treatment of disease, disorder or injury and at the time of the inspection the Registered Manager was on leave. The deputy service manager was on site to support the inspection in the absence of the Registered Manager.

The Alcohol Service provides a community detoxification and recovery service for adults who need support to end their alcohol dependency. Some parts of the service operate 7 days a week. The service covers 3 London boroughs – Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham. At present, due to commissioning arrangements, the service holds 2 contracts; one for Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, the other for Hammersmith and Fulham. This means that the services are developing slightly differently in the 2 areas.

The service is delivered from 3 locations and the main office is in Pimlico. Staff also work out of a number of satellite sites in order to maximise contact with clients and potential clients.

What people who use the service say

We looked at recent feedback supplied by 24 clients which was predominantly positive. We saw they did not ‘feel like a number’ and valued the peer support available. A separate women-only survey showed that most respondents had had a positive experience of treatment and liked the choice of online and face-to-face sessions.

We looked at some of the recent feedback the service had received from carers. This was a typical quote:

‘The help and support I’ve received through the Family and Carers service have helped me so much. It’s been so wonderful to have someone on the end of the phone who I can talk to, who can understand and guide me through what are often very lonely and difficult situations.’

Updated 19 January 2023

The Alcohol Service is a substance misuse service which supports clients in the community to overcome their dependence on alcohol, or to reduce the harm this may cause.

We rated it as good because:

• The service provided safe care. The premises where clients were seen were safe and clean. The number of clients on the caseload of the teams, and of individual members of staff, was not too high to prevent staff from giving each client the time they needed. Staff assessed and managed risk well and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.
• Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the clients and in line with national guidance about best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
• The teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of clients under their care. Managers ensured that these staff received training, supervision and appraisal. Staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and relevant services outside the organisation.
• Staff treated clients with compassion and kindness and understood the individual needs of clients. They actively involved clients in decisions and care planning.
• The service was easy to access. Staff planned and managed discharge well and had alternative pathways for people whose needs it could not meet.
• The service was well led, and the governance processes ensured that its procedures ran smoothly.

However:

• Whilst routine checks were made of the clinic room, issues were not always responded to promptly.
• Some other routine equipment checks were either overdue or not recorded, although there was evidence of the provider chasing the contractor.

Updated 19 January 2023