Primary Care Recovery Service (PCRS)

Updated 12 August 2022

The Primary Care Recovery Service is a community based substance misuse service providing care and treatment from a main hub and eight participating GP practices. The service provides a GP shared care scheme. This means clients substance misuse care and treatment is provided by both the Primary Care Recovery Service and the GP practice.

The service provides a medically assisted community alcohol detoxification programme, opiate substitution therapy, harm minimisation, group workshops and individual sessions. An aftercare service operates for those clients who are abstinent from alcohol and drugs.

The London Borough of Lewisham commissions the service. The service treats clients over 18 years of age who drink less than 300 units of alcohol per week, and who consume alcohol daily or binge drink, and can engage in treatment at one of the eight GP practice hubs. For clients with an opiate addiction, the service treats those people who have stable employment and/or education, do not inject opiates, and are able to engage in treatment at one of the eight GP practice hubs.

Clients that do not meet the service treatment criteria are referred to another substance misuse service in the borough. Clients receiving opiate substitution therapy or medically monitored community alcohol detoxification attend clinics at any of the eight GP practices.

The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following regulated activity:

• treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The Care Quality Commission had previously inspected this service in January 2019. At that inspection we rated the service as good.

What people who use the service say

Clients said that staff treated them well. They said they could access the service quickly and found the appointments very helpful. They said that staff had helped them to understand the different types of care, support and treatment that the service provided. One client said the appointment reminders that staff sent by text message were very helpful.

Updated 12 August 2022

Our rating of this location stayed the same. We rated it as good because:

• The service provided safe care. The premises where clients were seen were safe and clean. The number of clients on the caseloads of individual members of staff had recently risen, but was not too high to prevent staff from giving each client the time they needed. Staff assessed and managed risk well. They followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.
• Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment. They supported clients to set goals for their recovery and agree action plans to achieve these goals. Staff used formal assessment tools to ascertain the nature and severity of clients’ drug use. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the clients and in line with national guidance about best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
• The teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of clients under their care. The service had introduced a competency framework to ensure staff were sufficiently skilled. Managers ensured that all staff received training, supervision and appraisal. Staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and with relevant services outside the organisation.
• Staff treated clients with compassion and kindness, and understood the individual needs of clients. They actively involved clients in decisions and care planning. The service recognised that support from families and friends was often an essential part of clients’ recovery.
• The service was easy to access. The service provided an initial appointment for clients within ten days of referral. Staff planned and managed discharges well and had alternative pathways for people whose needs could not be met by the service.
• The service was well led, and the governance processes ensured that its procedures ran smoothly. Staff felt valued and supported. Staff met each week to review the governance and performance of the service, as well as to provide support to colleagues and discuss complex clients.

Updated 12 August 2022

We rated this service as good. A summary is provided on page 1.