During an assessment of Community-based substance misuse services
Wear Recovery is a community-based service delivered by Change, Grow, Live. It provides comprehensive support to clients struggling with drug and alcohol addictions.
The service has a registered manager and the regulated activity for which it is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry out is treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
In the national context, the whole of the Tyne and Wear area is in the top 30% for deprivation and 1 of the most affected areas in terms of people with drug and alcohol addictions in the United Kingdom.
The service comprises 4 hubs in the Tyne and Wear area: Riverview Health Centre and Laura Street in Sunderland, Houghton Health Centre in Houghton-Le-Spring and Washington Health Centre in Washington.
We undertook an inspection of all 4 hubs on 29, 30 and 31 July 2025. We announced the assessment to the provider 2 working days in advance to allow the registered manager to notify us of activities taking place during our visit and plan the availability of staff members we needed to speak with. The service had not been previously inspected or rated so we planned this as part of our routine inspection programme.
The service comprises specialised teams that provide support services for young people and adults with drug and alcohol addictions.
Mental Capacity Act / Consent to Treatment Overview
Staff took all practical steps to enable clients to make their own decisions.
We saw evidence in care records that staff assessed and recorded clients’ capacity to consent appropriately. They did this on a decision-specific basis with regard to significant decisions.
When clients lacked capacity, staff made decisions in their best interests, recognising the importance of the person’s wishes, feelings, culture and history.
We saw evidence in clients’ care records that clients had agreed and signed consent to treatment forms. We also saw evidence that staff had recorded which parties clients had agreed for staff to share information with about their care, treatment and current health status.
100% of staff had completed training in the Mental Capacity Act.
Staff had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, in particular the five statutory principles. They were able to identify where mental capacity was a concern in a client consenting to treatment.
Staff knew where to get advice from within the provider regarding the Mental Capacity Act and capacity assessments or pathways into local community mental health teams for support.
When clients lacked capacity, staff ensured decisions were made in their best interests, recognising the importance of the person’s wishes, feelings, culture and history.
The service had protocols and policies in place to manage clients whose capacity was temporarily impaired due to the use of illicit substances or inebriation.