- Residential substance misuse service
Shardale St Annes
Assessment report published 3 October 2025
Contents
Ratings - Substance misuse services
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 13 May 2025 with an additional day on the 16 May 2025.
Shardale St Annes is an independent substance misuse service. The service provides residential rehabilitation for opiate addiction and alcohol addiction for males and females over 18 years of age. The recovery model includes a structured programme of group work and individual pieces of work based on seven core values. The service has the capacity for over 30 beds. At the time we inspected there were 12 clients.
We undertook this assessment due to concerns that had been received in relation to the service and due to the age of the previous rating.
We rated the service as Requires Improvement. We found 2 breaches of the regulations in relation to premises and equipment and the governance of the service.
We identified numerous issues in respect to the quality and cleanliness of the environment which did not contribute to a positive therapeutic environment for clients. It was not clear that maintenance issues were being identified and addressed in a timely manner or that processes were effective at ensuring any issues were being escalated as appropriate.
The service did not have clear and strong governance processes to ensure that the service was running effectively and to provide managers with appropriate oversight, monitoring and assurance.
The service had not made notifications to external bodies as needed, which included statutory notifications not being made to CQC where police had been involved in incidents.
Following the on-site assessment, we requested further information from the service to support our review and judgements of the governance of the service. The service did not provide any of the information that we had requested due to unforeseen circumstances that impacted on the Registered Manager’s ability to fulfil the information requests. The Registered Manager had stated that they were the only person who would be able to respond to requests made by the CQC, although it was not clear why this was the case with having a staff team including a trainee manager on-site. Therefore, we were concerned that in the physical absence of the Registered Manager there was no clear governance oversight relating to the running of the service.
However, the service had enough staff to support the number of clients and clients reported that they felt safe within the service.
Clients felt that the treatment model and structure was benefiting them in their recovery.
Staff felt positive and proud about working for the provider and within their team. Staff were passionate about the service and the difference it could make to the clients.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
Clients that we spoke to generally gave positive feedback about the service and staff. Clients described feeling safe within the service and that staff were supportive, kind and believed in them. Clients explained the progress they had made and were making as a result of their time within the service. Clients felt that the treatment model and structure had benefited them in their recovery.
We observed a group session during the on-site assessment where we observed positive interactions between the staff member and the clients. Whilst we were on-site, we observed staff taking time to support the clients and providing advice and guidance when needed.
While the clients we spoke with expressed they were generally happy with their care, our assessment found that elements of the care delivered by the service did not meet the expected standards.