Drug & Alcohol Service Reading

Updated 19 July 2021

Drug & Alcohol Service Reading is a community-based substance misuse service provided by Change Grow Live. Change, Grow, Live (CGL) is a voluntary sector organisation specialising in substance misuse and criminal justice intervention projects in England and Wales. Drug & Alcohol Service Reading (also known as Reading CGL) provides support to adults who live in Reading who require treatment for alcohol and illicit substance misuse.

They 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 includes health checks and blood borne virus testing.

The service was registered with the commission on 30 July 2020 and this was the first inspection where we provided a rating since registering.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of inspection.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activity:

• Treatment for disease, disorder and injury.

This was an unannounced visit which meant staff and clients did not know that we would be visiting. This was Reading CGL’s first inspection.

What people who use the service say

We spoke to two clients who use the service via a video call. Clients told us that the service had improved following feedback from the service user forum. For example, early in the COVID-19 pandemic clients had been unable to fully access the service due to lockdown restrictions but the service had listened to this feedback and client’s regular contact was reinstated. The service made adaptions to ensure it was as accessible as possible whilst adhering to government guidance. Clients spoke highly of staff and the care and treatment they had received to date.

Updated 19 July 2021

This service had not previously been rated.

We rated this location as 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 assessed and 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.
• 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 training, supervision and appraisal. Staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and with relevant services outside the organisation.
• Staff treated clients with compassion, kindness and understood the individual needs of clients. They actively involved clients in decisions and care planning. Clients accessed a service user forum, which was used to provide feedback about the service they received.
• 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.

However:

• Records were not always detailed, concise or stored in the correct sections of the client’s care and treatment records.

Updated 19 July 2021