STARS (Southend Treatment and Recovery Service)

Updated 11 August 2023

STARS is provided by the Forward trust, an organisation that has supported people to break the cycles of addiction or crime since 1991. The Forward trust has over 70 separate service delivery projects, with more than 20,000 clients per year supported by 700 staff and 150 volunteers.

STARS offers brief interventions, structured groups, outreach, a rough sleepers initiative, prison in-reach, a needle exchange, blood borne virus testing, naloxone training and an ambulatory detox (an outpatient detox from drugs and alcohol providing assessment, prescriptions, and monitoring) for clients. The service also prescribed opiate substitute medication and psychosocial treatment. Services are aimed at recovery and rehabilitation and includes assessment, information, advice, treatment, and referral for residents of Southend-on-Sea.

This service was registered by CQC on 6 May 2022. Prior to this, services were provided by another organisation. This was the first inspection of this service since it was registered.

At the time of inspection, the service had a registered manager and nominated individual.

The service was registered to provide Treatment of disease, disorder, or injury.

What people who use the service say

We spoke with 6 clients during the inspection.

Clients we spoke with told us staff were respectful, polite, and knowledgeable and that there were good staffing levels.

Clients said treatments were effective, and the groups such as SMART recovery and the women’s group were helpful, clients also said the service provided useful gym sessions.

Clients told us they were given a physical health check and referred to specialists if needed.

Clients said there was a quick referral process and collaborative care planning with other services.

Clients told us that the service was clean and comfortable, they enjoyed having use of a kitchen and dining area and said that the clothing exchange was useful and a positive addition to the service.

Clients said that care and treatments were 'client -led' and they were able to make suggestions about what support, groups and one-to-ones they would find useful.

Updated 11 August 2023

This was our first inspection of this service. 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 with 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:

• The service had out of date stock located in the needle exchange room. We found 12 boxes of out-of-date needles. However, these were stored in a locked cupboard and were disposed of during inspection.
• The service did not have a formal process for recording clients contact preferences if they disengaged from treatment. However, they had informal conversations with clients about how they would like to be contacted should they unexpectedly exit treatment before their treatment was completed.

Updated 11 August 2023