Archived: West Midlands Regional Office

Updated 28 June 2019

Change Grow Live is a charity who provide a range of services across England and Wales. The service described their approach as to innovate and develop new approaches to service delivery that met the changing needs of clients and providing the best opportunities to change their lives. The organisation worked with the most vulnerable people within the community. They provided services to support individuals, families and young people experiencing or affected by homelessness, substance misuse, domestic violence and crime. Support was provided in the community, hostels and in residential rehabilitation units.

Change Grow Live Birmingham provide city-wide services that offers drug and alcohol treatment services for all adults in Birmingham. The service at Scala House in the centre of Birmingham had five other locations based in the north, south and east regions of the city. They had women only services available; due to the nature of some of the issues facing the women the location of this service was not readily available to the public. The service was open Monday to Friday 08:30 to 19:30 providing face to face and telephone support, advice and signposting. Appointments, and drop-in clinics were available within the various locations supported by a multi-disciplinary team. Out of hours and weekend support was operated via a telephone system based at the inpatient unit.

The service was in the process of moving their regulated activities from Scala House to another location in Birmingham that would benefit the client’s access to services. All the other locations were also being moved to different venues. This was due to be completed May 2019 to July 2019.

The service provided support such as needle exchange, group and advocacy support, blood borne virus testing including hepatitis C and treatment for the disease. The service provided outreach support and took services to the streets of Birmingham, supporting those who are homeless. They also committed to partnership working one of which was with the armed forces covenant. The service is commissioned by the local authority and is free for people to use.

The service was registered for treatment of disease disorder or injury and had a registered manager.

Change Grow Live Birmingham at Scala House has been opened since 2015 and has not previously been inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Updated 28 June 2019

We rated Change Grow Live Birmingham as Good because:

• Staff knew and could identify adults and children at risk of significant harm. They knew how to protect clients and keep them safe from avoidable harm. They worked well with other agencies to promote safety and attended multi-agency meetings to share information.
• The service had good multiagency team working, it had shared protocols in place to support effective working with GPs and pharmacists. The service also worked well with other agencies and organisations to ensure the needs of the client were met. Staff were kind, friendly, caring and compassionate towards clients. They identified with clients’ situations and supported clients’ individual needs and supported them to manage their care and treatment recovery.
• Clients, carers and families provided feedback on the service through surveys and feedback forms. The service actively sort feedback on the quality of care they provided. Direct access was provided to clients through the service open access duty system. The service did not operate a specific referral criteria but provided support, advice or signposting to those who required it.
• The service was inclusive and provided care and support to those who were homeless, ensuring they also had direct access to services by visiting them on the streets. The service worked in partnership with the armed forces covenant supporting veterans who experienced issues with drugs and alcohol.
• Managers had the skills, knowledge and experience required to effectively perform and lead in their roles. They had a good understanding of the service and were visible and approachable for staff and clients.

However:

• The organisation acknowledged supervision and appraisal completion rates were low. Between October 2018 to March 2019 60% to 74% of staff had received supervision. The Service had begun work streams to look at improving compliance rates and their electronic systems.
• Staff completed assessments of clients in pods within the duty area. One pod was completely see-through with a broken panel therefore this compromised the client’s dignity and privacy.

Updated 28 June 2019