CGL Cambridgeshire

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

This means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good.

Staff assessed the physical and mental health of all people on referral. They developed individual care plans which were reviewed regularly and updated as needed. Staff provided a range of treatment and care for people based on national guidance and best practice. Staff from different disciplines worked together as a team to benefit people.

This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

We have not awarded this service a score for Effective.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Effective.

We maximise the effectiveness of people’s care and treatment by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

We reviewed 11 care records during this inspection. Staff completed a comprehensive assessment with people in a timely manner by telephone through the entry into service team.

People who were on medically assisted treatment had a full physical health assessment before commencing treatment. This included physical health monitoring and blood tests where appropriate. Staff supported people to access other services and worked closely with other care professionals. Staff developed care plans that met the needs identified during assessment.

Care plans were personalised, holistic and recovery oriented.

We plan and deliver people’s care and treatment with them, including what is important and matters to them and in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

People were supported to care for their physical health and staff collaborated with external organisations to support people’s physical and mental health needs.

Staff provided a range of care and treatment interventions suitable for the group. The interventions were those recommended by, and were delivered in line with, guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. These included medicines and 1:1 sessions with a named key worker. The service had a range of groups available to people, these included acupuncture, motivational groups, psychology workshops, and an aftercare group. These were run by a mixture of peer mentors, trained volunteers, and recovery workers. The service also had a close working relationship with an external organisation who delivered co-led groups and sessions both at the services and within the community for people in recovery from drug and alcohol dependency, and online and face-to-face support groups for friends and family members.

Staff were experienced, qualified and had the right skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the group. Managers provided new staff with appropriate induction.

Managers ensured that staff had access to regular team meetings. This included a range of daily, weekly, and monthly meetings.

Managers ensured that staff received the necessary specialist training for their roles. This included autism awareness and autism champion training, trauma informed training, leadership training and de-escalation techniques training.

Managers provided staff with supervision and appraisal of their work performance. The percentage of staff that received regular supervision was 72%. The percentage of staff that had had an appraisal in the last 12 months was 74%. Leaders told us this was due to a delay in the new online supervision and appraisal system being implemented and the old system being offline.

We work effectively across teams and services to support people, making sure they only need to tell their story once by sharing their assessment of needs when they move between different services.

Different staff teams worked together smoothly and communicated well to provide safe, person-focused care. They held regular team meetings to share information and coordinate their work.

The service demonstrated effective working relationships with other teams both within and outside the organisation. This included partnership working with local authority safeguarding teams, social services, and GPs to support holistic care. The service had smoking cessation clinics located within hubs, and an external organisation which supported people with free, confidential, and independent advice on a wide range of issues, including debt, housing, employment, and benefits co-located within the service.

The service held joint MDT meetings with mental health services and NHS providers to review shared clients, ensuring coordinated care for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance misuse needs. The service had a co-located specialist substance use and mental health co-occurring conditions lead.

A family service was available, offering support to families affected by substance misuse and helping them cope with its impact and improve their overall wellbeing. This was through face to face and online support.

Staff shared information about people effectively through regular handover meetings within the team. Daily ‘flash’ meetings and multi-disciplinary team (MDT) discussions were used to maintain oversight of the caseload and respond to emerging risks.

We support people to manage their health and wellbeing so they can maximise their independence, choice and control, live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

Staff actively helped people to adopt healthier habits. They provided wellness groups, nutritional advice, and smoking cessation programmes, which included distributing free vape starter kits and behavioural support through a UK government initiative.

People’s health and wellbeing were promoted through comprehensive harm reduction initiatives and collaborative care. Staff provided targeted education, harm reduction advice, and a needle exchange programme. Strong partnerships and joint working agreements were maintained with external organisations to ensure integrated support. Staff carried out blood borne virus (BBV) testing at the end of all appointments, which had successfully increased uptake across all Cambridgeshire services.

We routinely monitor people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it and to ensure that outcomes are positive and consistent, and that they meet both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

Staff used recognised rating scales to assess and record dependence severity and outcomes. Rating scales were incorporated into the electronic care records system and were completed as part of the assessment process. They were reviewed again at different stages of treatment. People who scored above 20 on the Audit C tool had the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ) completed Those scored above 16 on the SADQ were referred for a specialist nurse alcohol assessment.

Staff used Treatment Outcomes Profiles (TOP) to assess people’s progress and outcomes before, during and at the end of treatment.

Care plans contained agreed goals, reflected the assessed needs, were personalised, holistic and recovery oriented. Care plan goals included risks, protective factors, completed actions, outstanding actions, physical health and mental health.

We tell people about their rights around consent and respect these when we deliver person-centred care and treatment.

Staff received mandatory training in the Mental Capacity Act. Staff compliance rates for Mental Capacity Act awareness training was 100%.

We saw evidence that staff wrote to people’s GPs to keep them informed of the treatment being provided by the service. Staff obtained clients’ consent before requesting and sharing information with their registered GPs.