First Care Lodge Limited (Supported Living)

Updated 11 May 2023

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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in a number of supported living settings, 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 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 post.

Notice of inspection

We announced the inspection 72 hours prior to the inspection. This was because we wanted to make sure someone would be available to support us with the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection.

We spoke with 2 managing directors, the provider and an administrator. We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people's care files, 5 staff files, and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including training records, policies and procedures of the service.

We spoke with 2 relatives and 2 care workers.

Updated 11 May 2023

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

About the service

First Care Lodge Ltd (supported Living) is a service that provides care and support to people living in a 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. 4 people were using personal care at the time of our visit and some of the people a learning disability and/or autism.

Right Support

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives 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. Care plans were designed with the involvement of relatives ensuring that people's support needs were identified. Changes in people's needs were regularly reviewed and care plans updated so people received the right support that met their needs. Risk assessments were completed, and staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do, so people had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

Right Care

The provider failed to undertake proper checks when employing new staff to ensure they were safe to provide personal care. However, relatives told us staff knew people well and were caring. Staff understood people's cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. They understood and responded to people's individual needs. Staff knew how to effectively communicate with people to deliver safe care.

Right Culture

The provider's auditing systems were not effective as they did not identify and address shortfalls in staff recruitment and deployment. This meant people were supported by staff who were not always recruited or deployed properly. We have made recommendations about staff deployment and quality assurance. Relatives felt staff were friendly and easy to talk with. Staff told us the provider supported and provided them with training. The provider worked with other professionals, so people were able to receive specialist care when they needed it. The provider sought feedback, carried out spot checks and reviewed incidents and accidents ensure continuous improvement.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for the service was Good (published on 21 December 2022)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about . A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from Good to Requires Improvement based on the findings of this inspection. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for First Care Lodge Limited (Supported Living) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breach in relation to staff recruitment. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.