St Giles

Updated 30 November 2022

The inspection

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

Two Inspectors and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in individual bungalows in one 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a 'best interests' decision about this. We also needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 29 September 2022 and ended on 11 October 2022. We visited the office and people on 4 and 6 October 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited 3 addresses and met with 3 people who used the service to get their feedback about the care provided. Where people were unable to talk with us, we used observation to help us understand their experience of using the service. We also met with 4 care staff who supported them.

We had phone contact with 5 family members for feedback about the service. During the office visit we met with the registered manager, the team leader and the area manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care records and selected medicines records. We looked at 3 staff files and 4 agency profiles in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with 2 professionals who had contact with the service.

Updated 30 November 2022

AAbout the service

St Giles is a supported living complex in a rural setting consisting of 40 bungalows, with a central building housing offices and shared living areas. Livability provides personal care support at St Giles. The service predominantly supports people with a learning disability or autistic people; they are also registered to support people with mental health needs, older people and people with physical and sensory impairments. At the time of our inspection there were 6 people using the service.

Some of the people at St Giles received personal care from other organisations. In this report we only inspected the personal care provided by Livability.

CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. Not everyone who lived at St Giles received support with their personal care from Livability, for example some people received support with domestic tasks only. This meant we did not look at the support Livability provided for some people.

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.

Right Support:

Livability provided care at St Giles. Established many years ago, St Giles does fully not reflect the current principles outlined in ‘Right support, right care right culture.’ However, within this setting, Livability provided care which reflected best practice and promoted choice.

A person told us, “I like my house here. I like being independent.”

Staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do, so people had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life. A relative told us, “My family member is doing well. They are going out more. Staff definitely know how to support them. The service has done wonders, they are brilliant.”

Staff supported people to have the maximum possible choice, control and independence to be independent and they had control over their own lives. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making.

Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

The service had enough appropriately skilled and safely recruited staff to meet people’s needs.

People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.

People received care that supported their needs and aspirations, was focused on their quality of life, and followed best practice. A professional told us, “People thrive with Livability.”

Right Culture:

Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing.

Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care.

The registered manager and provider evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate. They developed good relationships with other organisations.

People’s quality of life was enhanced by the service’s culture of improvement and inclusivity.

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 10 October 2020 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 21 March 2017.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service was applying the principles of Right support, right care, right culture.