Freedom from Torture Also known as Freedom from Torture

Ratings

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

The date of assessment: 3 June 2026

Freedom from Torture is a charitable organisation that provides a range of services aimed at rehabilitating survivors of torture from around the world who are now living in the United Kingdom. The service operates from Monday to Friday and from 9am to 5pm.

Freedom from Torture is registered to provide the regulated activity of treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The service had a Nominated Individual but did not have a formally Registered Manager at the time of inspection.

We inspected the regulated activity that was delivered by four volunteer doctors and two care co-ordinators. The doctors provide medical consultations to adults, children and young people who are survivors of torture. Following a medical consultation, the doctor sends a recommended treatment plan to the patient’s registered GP. The service does not prescribe medication or conduct medical treatment. The doctors usually complete a one-off medical consultation. However, therapy staff can re-refer patients to the service doctor as needed. Care co-ordinators offered patient’s support with their care and treatment plan.

Freedom from Torture offers other services to people that do not fall within the scope of the registered regulated activity. This includes the therapy service (clinical/ counselling psychologists, psychotherapists; family therapists; music therapist, art and horticultural therapy volunteers) as well as a pain management service, a legal and welfare advice service and the in-house medico-legal service in which healthcare professionals support clients with legal documentation.

Freedom from Torture was last inspected by CQC in June 2017. At that inspection the service was rated good in the key questions effective, caring, responsive and well-led. Safe was rated requires improvement. We required the provider to make improvements to risk management and notifiable incidents.

At this assessment we found improvements in all these areas. We rated the service as good. The service is no longer in breach of regulations. Staff now risk assessed all patients that had a mental health condition and included information in the risk management plans for patients on what to do in the event of a crisis. Arrangements were now in place to monitor patient’s change in risk when they were waiting to be seen at intake panel or initial assessment. The waiting lists were reviewed at the weekly team meeting. The service now had arrangements in place to ensure that notifiable incidents were reported to the CQC.

Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the patients and in line with national guidance about best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.

The multidisciplinary team included or had access to a range of specialists required to meet the needs of patients. Managers ensured that these staff received training, supervision and appraisal. The staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and with those outside the service.

Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of patients.

Governance processes operated effectively, and performance and risk were managed well.