We do not currently rate independent standalone substance misuse services.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• The service had a robust system in place to oversee the service and to drive improvements. The governance structure, information from audits and senior management meetings, and the quality of the service improvement projects demonstrated that leaders understood the needs of the client group and delivered services to meet them.
• The service had a safeguarding tracker for children and adults, which they reviewed monthly. This tracker included clients and their children for whom a safeguarding referral had been made by the provider, the referrer or by other agencies. The service had a Hidden Harm practitioner to link the service with children and adult social services.
• The service provided naloxone training and kits to clients who use opiates and staff members. The delivery, storage and issuing of naloxone medication to clients was monitored and audited by the chief pharmacist during prescriptions and medicines management audits. Two clients had averted potentially fatal episodes because of this scheme.
• The provider had responded to national concerns about long-term substance misuse and its impact on people of late middle age by conducting an audit of clients within the risk group and then implementing actions to try to improve their quality of life.
• The service had strong links with the Tamil community and staff supplied information and counselling in the Tamil language. The service was also able to provide counselling in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi to support the large Asian community in the area.

• Staff supported LGBT+ clients with a dedicated approach and pathway, which the service created for them. This included referrals to rehabilitation services, which met their needs.

• Qualified or trained and experienced staff provided a range of therapeutic support in line with best practice guidance. The service was rolling out the Capital Card Scheme, which provided rewards to help motivate clients to attend.

• The service had a service level agreement with the hepatology services at a local hospital, which allowed clients to access monthly clinics at the hospital for hepatitis C testing and treatment.

• The service had enough staff to safely care for the clients’ needs. The provider had systems in place to ensure that 97% of staff had undertaken mandatory training and were inducted and trained into other responsibilities such as fire warden or first aider as required.

• Staff routinely completed risk assessments and risk management plans at the start of clients’ engagement with the service and updated them regularly afterwards.