STARS (Southend Treatment and Recovery Service)

Updated 21 May 2026

This means we looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained as good.

The service was safe and clean although some areas of the service were disorganised with items not stored appropriately. Staff assessed and managed risks to people and themselves well and protected people from abuse. The service safely managed medicines and managed safety incidents well. Physical health was managed well, there was access to a range of specialists and staff worked well together. Staff treated people with compassion and kindness, they understood the individual needs of people and involved people in care planning and risk assessment. People could access the service immediately and people at increased risks were prioritised. Staff supported people to engage with activities, and supported people with communication, cultural and advocacy needs. The service responded to and investigated complaints and learned lessons. Leaders had the skills, knowledge and experience to perform their roles, governance processes operated effectively and performance and risk were managed well.

Updated 22 December 2025

Southend Treatment and Recovery Service (STARS) was inspected on 10 February 2026. STARS, run by the Forward Trust is a community-based substance misuse service. The Forward Trust operates over 70 projects, helping more than 20,000 people each year through community services and prison programmes. It offers advice, treatment, and recovery support, including abstinence-based programmes in community, residential, prison, and online settings. The service also helps individuals build employability skills through training, job support, and business guidance.

STARS provide support to adult residents in Southend-on Sea, impacted by drugs and alcohol. The service offers brief therapeutic interventions, on a one a one basis or in structured groups alongside clinical support with ambulatory detox (an outpatient detox from drugs and alcohol providing assessment, prescriptions, and monitoring) for people. The service also prescribes opiate substitute medication and offers outreach support, a rough sleepers initiative, prison in-reach, a needle exchange, blood borne virus and Hepatitis B vaccinations and naloxone training. Services are aimed at recovery and rehabilitation and include assessment, information, advice, treatment, and referral for residents of Southend-on-Sea.

This service was registered by CQC on 6 May 2022. 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. This was our second comprehensive inspection of the service, across all key questions and quality statements. We last inspected this service in 2023 where it was rated good overall and for each key question except for effective which was rated as requires improvement. We identified a breach at that inspection for person centred care as the service did not ensure that all people’s files included a documented record of unexpected exit from treatment plans. At this inspection, the service had made improvements and was no longer in breach of regulations. Managers now ensured that staff documented unexpected exit from treatment plans. We rated the service as good overall.