Brightside Supported Living Services

Updated 15 October 2022

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in one 'supported living' setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in place. A new manager had just started working at the service and was going to apply to register with the CQC.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We announced the inspection a few days in advance to ensure people would give us permission to visit them in their homes. Before we visited the supported living settings, we discussed infection control processes with reference to COVID-19 and followed government guidance.

Inspection activity started on 6 September 2022 and ended on 20 September 2022. We visited people in their home and the providers office on 13 September 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We contacted the local authority commissioners and safeguarding teams who worked with the provider and also Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited the registered office and met with the manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. On the same day, we visited the day centre operated by the provider which people using the service attended. On the same day we visited people in their own home. In total we spoke with all three people and contacted three relatives via telephone and email to gather their views. We contacted all six permanent staff via email to gather their views and spoke with two staff during the visit to people in their homes.

We reviewed all three people’s care and medicine records. We looked at three staff records in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service and quality monitoring systems.

We contacted three care managers via commissioning teams and gained feedback from two. We also contacted a learning disability nurse and a community nurse to gather their views.

Updated 15 October 2022

About the service

Brightside Supported Living Services is a supported living service. It provides care and support to people with a learning disability or who are autistic, living in a 'supported living' setting, so they can live as independently as possible.

People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual arrangements. The CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people's care and support.

CQC only inspects the service being received by people who are provided with the regulated activity of 'personal care', for example which includes help with tasks such as personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided. There were three people using the service for personal care and they lived in one supported living setting.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting underpinning principles of “Right support, right care, right culture".

Right support:

The model of care and settings maximised people's choice, control and independence and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff were aware of and followed best practice and the principles of Right support.

The home was clean, and staff followed infection control guidelines. People's private rooms were personalised with their belongings and items important to them.

Staff focused on people's strengths and promoted what they could do, so people had a fulfilling and meaningful life. People had choice and support to pursue interests and hobbies they enjoyed.

Staff safely supported people with their medicines. People were able to access any specialist healthcare when required.

Right care:

People received good quality person-centred care that promoted their dignity, privacy and human rights.

Staff communicated with people verbally, using Makaton and body language. Staff also had the use of pictorial formats to support better communication methods. People could interact comfortably with staff because staff had the necessary skills to understand them.

The service had enough appropriately recruited and skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe. Staff were well supported.

People were protected from abuse as staff had been trained to recognise and report this as necessary.

Right culture:

The ethos, values, and attitudes of management and care staff ensured people led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. People and those important to them, including relatives, were involved in planning their care.

Staff worked well with other health and social care providers.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 24 June 2021and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support, right care, right culture and because the service had not been previously inspected since registering with the CQC.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.