Archived: Livingstone House

Updated 7 June 2019

Livingstone House is a residential drug and alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation programme for men aged over 18. Residents participate in a 12-step recovery programme tailored to their needs. Support is offered to meet each individual’s mental, spiritual and emotional needs.

The service has 10 beds and offers detoxification, primary and secondary care and aftercare. People access the service through professional referral or self- referral. Dependent on circumstances, clients can be privately funded, or may be eligible for funding by the local authority.

The registered location of Livingstone House includes the joined household called Serenity House. This is because both houses are joined to create one accessible building.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. Livingstone House is registered with the CQC to carry out the following regulated activities:

• Accommodation for persons who require treatment for substance misuse treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

We inspected this location on 26 July 2016 . The service was found to be in breach of Regulation 12 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 safe care and treatment and Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 good governance. 

We found the provider did not have an alarm call system in place to summon help in the event of an emergency. The provider did not complete actions identified in environmental audits. The provider did not mitigate and manage risks identified in ligature audits. The provider did not store substances hazardous to health safely. The provider did not securely store night handover sheets containing client information. 

We carried out a focused inspection of Livingstone House on 28 February 2017 and found that the provider had met the requirements to remove the breaches of regulation. 

Updated 7 June 2019

We rated Livingstone House Good overall because:

• The service provided safe care. The environment was safe and clean. The service had enough staff and they assessed and managed risk well. They minimised the use of restrictive practices, managed medicines safely 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 client group and in line with national guidance and best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
• Managers ensured that staff received training, supervision and appraisal. The staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and with those outside the service who would have a role in providing aftercare.
• Staff truly respected and valued people using the service as individuals and empowered them to understand and manage their care. They treated clients with dignity, compassion and kindness. They understood the individual needs of clients and supported them to understand and manage their condition.

• Staff actively involved clients and families and carers in care decisions. Staff involved families and carers and provided them with exceptional levels of support. Staff actively worked with clients and their families to rebuild broken relationships caused by addiction.
• The service provided a range of treatment options including detoxification, day care, aftercare, resettlement, peer support and volunteering. Staff planned and managed discharge well and liaised well with community services.
• The service was well led. Staff were undertaking a programme of improvement and updating governance processes to ensure the service ran smoothly.

Updated 7 June 2019