Abbington House

Updated 1 July 2025

Abbington House provides accommodation for people who require treatment for substance misuse. This assessment looked at residential substance misuse services, which we rated as requires improvement. We found breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, good governance and duty of candour.

Care and treatment was not always safe. Medical summaries were not present in all client records, initial prescriber appointments were not always face to face and medicines were not always disposed of in a timely manner. The environment had many ligature points and not all staff were aware of where potential ligature anchor points were around the building. This meant that risk of self harm was not fully mitigated. Naloxone was in a locked cupboard and not easy to access in an emergency. Approved rating scales, such as clinical institute of withdrawal (CIWA-Ar) were not used regularly at the beginning of treatment to monitor withdrawal, and severity of alcohol dependence questionnaires (SADQ) were not used. We did not always see evidence of information being shared with other professionals. There were gaps with mandatory training across the staffing team and not all staff members had appropriate recruitment checks completed before commencing employment. We did not see any evidence of duty of candour when things went wrong.

However, managers had made changes to electronic recording of medication administration due to errors picked up through auditing. The service had a comprehensive business continuity plan in place in the event of any circumstances where running of the service could be prevented. Staff were experienced in addiction treatment and provided suitable interventions for the client group. There was good aftercare support in place for clients. Staff told us there was no limit to aftercare support.

Staff were caring and passionate about supporting clients. Clients told us that their experience of Abbington House was positive, and they felt supported and cared for. Partner agencies told us they had received positive feedback from clients about their experience at Abbington House.

Updated 21 January 2025

Abbington House registered with Care Quality Commission in May 2024 to provide accommodation for people who require treatment for substance misuse. Abbington House is a 20-bed residential drug and alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation service based in Stevenage. This service provides care and treatment for male and female clients. Abbington House provides medically monitored detoxification and evidenced- based treatments, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and mindfulness, alongside 12-step treatment.

This was our first inspection of the service. This inspection was unannounced on February 6 2025 and was prompted due to concerns around medicine administration. At the time of inspection, the service did not have a registered manager in post, however a manager currently working at the service had submitted their registered manager application.

We rated the service as requires improvement. We found breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, good governance and duty of candour.

Care and treatment was not always safe. Medical summaries were not present in all client records, initial prescriber appointments were not always face to face and medicines were not always disposed of in a timely manner. The environment had many ligature points and not all staff were aware of where potential ligature anchor points were around the building. This meant that risk of self harm was not fully mitigated. Naloxone was in a locked cupboard and not easy to access in an emergency. Approved rating scales, such as clinical institute of withdrawal (CIWA-Ar) were not used regularly at the beginning of treatment to monitor withdrawal, and severity of alcohol dependence questionnaires (SADQ) were not used. We did not always see evidence of information being shared with other professionals. There were gaps with mandatory training across the staffing team and not all staff members had appropriate recruitment checks completed before commencing employment. We did not see any evidence of duty of candour when things went wrong.

However, managers had made changes to electronic recording of medication administration due to errors picked up through auditing. The service had a comprehensive business continuity plan in place in the event of any circumstances where running of the service could be prevented. Staff were experienced in addiction treatment and provided suitable interventions for the client group. There was good aftercare support in place for clients. Staff told us there was no limit to aftercare support.
Staff were caring and passionate about supporting clients. Clients told us that their experience of Abbington House was positive, and they felt supported and cared for. Partner agencies told us they had received positive feedback from clients about their experience at Abbington House.