We rated Primary Care Recovery Service as good because:

• Staff managed clients’ risk safely and effectively. Staff safely carried out physical health checks on clients going through assisted withdrawal from alcohol. Clients’ care plans addressed the potential risks of early exit from the treatment programme.

• The service managed medicines well. Nursing staff followed best practice guidance when prescribing medicines for clients.

• Staff minimised the risk to clients and children from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff worked closely with the local safeguarding lead to seek guidance and support.

• Clients had care plans in place to support them going through alcohol detoxification. Clients’ had recovery plans and staff completed relapse prevention plans with clients. Staff involved clients in planning their care and the running of the service.

• Staff provided a range of care and treatment interventions suitable for clients’ recovery. Clients had access to psychological therapies to support their substance misuse treatment. These included cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness.

• Staff demonstrated a compassionate understanding of the impact clients’ care and treatment could have on their emotional and social wellbeing. Clients were positive about the care they received from staff.

• Staff actively engaged with commissioners, GPs, social care organisations and other secondary care services. This ensured staff could plan, develop and deliver the service to meet the needs of the clients.

• The service worked jointly with other services in the local borough’s pathway for drug and alcohol services. This ensured that staff could appropriately place clients along the drug and alcohol pathway to meet their needs.

• The service made sure staff were competent for their specialist roles working in substance misuse. Staff received an annual appraisal of their work performance and received regular managerial supervision to provide support and monitor the effectiveness of the service.

• The service was well-led at team level and by the senior leadership team. Staff had access to information they needed to provide safe care and high-quality treatment to clients. The team used key performance indicators to measure the performance of the service. Nursing staff had completed a short research report into the effectiveness of a medicine that clients used for alcohol cravings.

However,

• Staff did not keep up to date with their mandatory training. Low rates of mandatory training included harm reduction, managing difficult situations, risk assessment and care planning training.

• Staff did not always actively promote the needs of all clients, including those with a protected characteristic. Staff did not always include clients’ religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation into their care planning.

• The service did not have local systems to identify and manage risks within the service to ensure risks were mitigated.