Camden Community Drug Treatment Service

CGL Camden is part of the larger Change Grow Live provider who deliver a not-for-profit drug and alcohol treatment service nationally. The service provides specialist community treatment and support for adults and young people affected by substance misuse who live in Camden.

CGL Camden offer a range of services including initial advice; assessment and harm reduction services including needle exchange; prescribed medicines for alcohol and opiate detoxification and stabilisation, naloxone dispensing; group recovery programmes, one-to-one key working sessions and doctor and nurse clinics which include health checks, blood borne virus and hepatitis C testing.

The service works in partnership across Camden with other agencies, including NHS services, social services, probation services, GPs and pharmacies.

The Camden service is open from Monday to Friday and has a late opening of 9:30am – 8pm every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

There was an interim registered manager at the service at the time of the inspection.

The service is registered by the CQC on 01/07/2024 to provide the following regulated activity:

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

This was a routine inspection.

We spoke with 19 members of staff, 6 patients and 6 carers. We also reviewed the care and treatment records of 11 patients.

CGL Camden is one treatment system operating from two sites across the borough and also delivers services from community satellite sites. It provides community-based alcohol and drug treatment detoxification for residents of the borough.

The team that inspected the service comprised 2 CQC inspectors, 1 CQC medicines inspector, 1 specialist advisor and 1 expert by experience.

The is the first time we have rated the service, and we have rated the service as Good.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• 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 followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.
• Staff provided a range of care and treatment interventions suitable for the client group and consistent with national guidance about best practice. They ensured that clients had good access to physical healthcare and supported clients to live healthier lives. The service user outcomes in relation to clients successfully completing treatment was above the national benchmark for all three pathways (alcohol, non-opiate and opiate).
• Staff treated clients with compassion and kindness and understood the individual needs of clients. Clients were involved in the service in several ways. They could contribute feedback, attend service user forum meetings and make suggestions for service improvement. Staff welcomed their families and offered support to them, when appropriate.
• 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. Leaders had the skills, knowledge and experience to perform their roles. Staff said they felt supported and valued and had good access to a wide range of training.