The Care Quality Commission
  • Community
  • Community substance misuse service

CGL Waltham Forest Adults Substance Misuse Service

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

1 Beulah Road, London, E17 9LG

Provided and run by:
Change, Grow, Live

All Inspections

During an assessment of Community-based substance misuse services

We carried out an assessment of CGL Waltham Forest Adults Substance Misuse Service on 28 and 29 January 2026 in response to routine monitoring. The assessment considered how well the service provided safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led care in line with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Single Assessment Framework.

We rated the service as good. No breaches of regulation were identified at this assessment.

CGL Waltham Forest Adults Substance Misuse Service is part of a national not-for-profit provider delivering a community-based drug and alcohol treatment service for adults. The service provides assessment, harm reduction including needle exchange, prescribing for alcohol and opiate treatment, naloxone provision, structured group work, one-to-one support and clinical input, alongside partnership working with National Health Service (NHS) services, social care, probation, general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacies.

Since the last inspection, the service strengthened consent processes, improved safeguarding oversight and embedded learning from incidents. Governance systems provided structured oversight of quality, risk and performance, including monitoring safeguarding activity, incidents and outcomes through established governance forums. Staff delivered care that was coordinated across services, supported by multidisciplinary and multi-agency working. Staff involved people in managing risks and delivered harm reduction interventions, supported by structured processes and clinical oversight.

However, the service did not always communicate clearly or consistently with people, including about appointments, group expectations and changes in keyworkers. Staff did not consistently record safeguarding and clinical information, which limited full assurance that all risks were documented in every case, although records and staff accounts showed safeguarding was actively reviewed. At a venue used by the service to deliver group support (Marsham Court), which is separate from the main registered location at Beulah Road, some people described inconsistent access to the building and a lack of staff presence, which reduced confidence in the reliability of the environment and could affect engagement.

During an assessment of the hospital overall

We carried out an assessment of CGL Waltham Forest Adults Substance Misuse Service on 28 and 29 January 2026 in response to routine monitoring. The assessment considered how well the service provided safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led care in line with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Single Assessment Framework.

We rated the service as good. No breaches of regulation were identified at this assessment.

CGL Waltham Forest Adults Substance Misuse Service is part of a national not-for-profit provider delivering a community-based drug and alcohol treatment service for adults. The service provides assessment, harm reduction including needle exchange, prescribing for alcohol and opiate treatment, naloxone provision, structured group work, one-to-one support and clinical input, alongside partnership working with National Health Service (NHS) services, social care, probation, general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacies.

Since the last inspection, the service strengthened consent processes, improved safeguarding oversight and embedded learning from incidents. Governance systems provided structured oversight of quality, risk and performance, including monitoring safeguarding activity, incidents and outcomes through established governance forums. Staff delivered care that was coordinated across services, supported by multidisciplinary and multi-agency working. Staff involved people in managing risks and delivered harm reduction interventions, supported by structured processes and clinical oversight.

However, the service did not always communicate clearly or consistently with people, including about appointments, group expectations and changes in keyworkers. Staff did not consistently record safeguarding and clinical information, which limited full assurance that all risks were documented in every case, although records and staff accounts showed safeguarding was actively reviewed. At a venue used by the service to deliver group support (Marsham Court), which is separate from the main registered location at Beulah Road, some people described inconsistent access to the building and a lack of staff presence, which reduced confidence in the reliability of the environment and could affect engagement.

19 January 2022

During a routine inspection

The service provides specialist community treatment and support for adults affected by substance misuse who live in Waltham Forest.

Our rating of this location was 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 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 supervision and appraisal. Staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and 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.
  • Most clients that we spoke to were happy with the level of service they were receiving and felt well supported by staff.
  • 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 mostly ensured that its procedures ran smoothly.

However:

  • Not all clinical staff had completed basic life support training.
  • The service’s risk register did not reflect all of the leadership team’s current concerns about the delivery of the service.
  • At the time of inspection there was no clinical oversight of new referrals. The service had implemented a new system following our inspection.
  • There were significant vacancies in the alcohol and non-opiate team. At the inspection three out of four vacancies were covered by agency staff. This meant that there was a risk that clients could receive inconsistent care and treatment.
  • Client’s consent to treatment was not always recorded.