Turning Tides Recovery Project

Updated 11 July 2019

Turning Tides Homelessness recovery project is a residential recovery service for single homeless men and women with drug and/or alcohol addictions. The service does not provide detoxification, but works with partner agencies, including local substance misuse partner service Change Grow Live (CGL) who provide services such as detoxification and medical monitoring. CGL was not inspected during this inspection. The recovery service is run by Turning Tides Homelessness, which is a community led homelessness organisation, aiming to support individuals to overcome their addictions and live independent lives.

Most referrals are made via the Turning Tides Homelessness day centre, but referrals are also made by partner agencies such as CGL, the probation service and local authority commissioners. Clients need to be motivated to make positive life changes and committed to engaging positively with the service. The project adopts both harm minimisation and abstinence-based interventions to integrate clients back into the community. Clients can stay at the service for a maximum of 2 years.

The project is staffed 24 hours a day with a minimum of two staff on duty at any given time. All clients have their own room, with nurse call facilities in each room, with the use of shared communal areas including lounges, a large, fully stocked kitchen and a small gym.

Clients make a financial contribution to their stay at the service through their housing benefits. At the end of their treatment clients are supported into independent accommodation in the community or in one of the Turning Tides Homelessness community houses, with comprehensive support for as long as they need it.

The service was last inspected in August 2016and met all the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act. Turning Tides Homelessness is registered to provide: accommodation for persons who require treatment for substance misuse for up to 25 adults. At some point for a short period prior to this inspection, the service admitted one more client than their registration permits. This was an oversight on the part of the service and this has been fully rectified, and the service has committed to applying to increase capacity.

The service has a registered manager.

Updated 11 July 2019

The service was last inspected in 2016, at which time we did not rate independent substance misuse services.We rated Turning Tides Recovery Project as Good because:

• The service was well staffed with a range of well trained and experienced staff. Staff put into practice the service’s vision and values. Staff had contact with managers at all levels of the organisation, including the most senior, who were supportive and visible.

• The service was clean and comfortable with a very good range of facilities. Effective systems ensured any issues with the building or facilities were rectified quickly.

• There was a proactive approach to understanding the needs and preferences of different groups of people, and to ensuring the service met these needs, promoting accessibility and equality. The individual needs of each client were considered carefully by staff, ensuring their individual preferences and needs were always reflected in how support was delivered.

• Staff managed risk well using effective systems and protocols, including clients at risk of relapse. All clients had holistic, personalised support plans, and were encouraged to take an active role in their own recovery and risk management.

• The organisation did not subscribe to any specific recovery model and would support any option that suited an individual. It also offered a unique managed withdrawal from alcohol programme, designed by the registered manager in partnership with colleagues from other disciplines. The service managers advised us that this programme had been independently evaluated by a medically qualified detoxification specialist, and approved by Public Health England.

• Incidents, complaints and safeguarding concerns were monitored to identify where improvements could be made.

• The community ethos of the organisation was very strong and effective. The organisation had very strong community links and a recovery pathway for people to move through. Support was available for as long as people needed it.

• The service had excellent links with partner organisations and the wider community, offering a broad range of opportunities to clients to engage, build relationships and undertake training, educational or employment opportunities.

• Clients told us they liked the feeling of inclusion, one example being the family feeling of Christmas-time, with gifts being exchanged and a full Christmas dinner prepared and eaten together.

• Clients were consulted on all aspects of the running of the service and participated in staff recruitment. The Partnership and Co-Production Team (PACT), which was a group of clients and ex-clients, were significantly involved at all levels of the organisation, including budgets and policy changes, and met regularly with the trustees.

However:

• Although the service had an appropriate Mental Capacity Act policy which formed part of the induction, not all staff knew or understood the legislation, how it applied to this service or how to use it appropriately. This may have been because some of the staff were quite new.