Background to this inspection
Updated
19 October 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
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in 12 ‘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 a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
We gave a short period of 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.
Inspection activity started on 13 September 2022 and ended on 4 October 2022. We visited the location’s office on 28 September 2022. We spoke on the telephone with relatives, professionals and staff at various times between the dates highlighted.
What we did before the inspection
We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 visited the provider’s office location for this service to look at a number of management files and other documents related to the running of the service and spoke with the registered manager. We visited 4 locations where people were supported in their own homes and spoke with 4 people who were supported by the service, 1 service manager and 4 staff. We spoke on the telephone to 3 relatives of people who used the service, 2 care managers, 2 staff and 1 advocate for a person using the service. We further received 4 emails from staff working in the service and 1 care manager detailing their experiences.
During the inspection we looked at 3 care plans and a range of other care documents including medicine administration records. We looked at a range of management documents including 6 staff files, audit documents and meeting minutes.
Updated
19 October 2022
About the service
Lifeways Community Care (North of Tyne) is a supported living service providing the regulated activity personal care. The service provides support to people with a learning disability or autism. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people using the service who required support with personal care.
The service supports people in their own homes. Staff supported people for either all or part of the day. Where people needed help over 24 hours then arrangements are made for staff to sleep at the property, at the same time causing the least disruption to people’s living environment. Some people lived on their own and some people shared their homes with a number of other people. People rented their homes from a private landlord and were reliant on the landlord to deal with maintenance and upkeep of the property.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
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.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.
Right support: People were supported to make choices in their daily lives, although this was sometimes limited due to staffing issues prompted by current national recruitment difficulties. People were supported with shopping and preparing meals and engaged in a range of outside activities. They were able to maintain family relations, develop friendships and engage with the local community. Some people were actively involved in reviewing and auditing the service to ensure it was safe and that other people were receiving the care and support they needed. Staff had a good understanding of people’s needs and were encouraging of people to set and achieve new goals.
Right care: Care was centred around people’s particular needs and likes. Staff were fully aware they were supporting people in their own homes and ensured people were happy with their actions when providing care. Personal care was provided in a thoughtful and dignified manner and people were highly complimentary about the way staff helped them. Relatives and outside professionals said the service provided good care and helped to improve people’s everyday lives.
Right culture: Staff talked positively about the role they undertook and consistently strived to deliver person centred care. People were supported by a staff group that had access to a good range of training and who were well supported by managers through regular checks, supervision and appraisal. People were empowered to live their best lives possible and were valued as individuals. They were encouraged to be part of the community. Relatives and professionals told us people had developed skills since being supported by the service and were enjoying life.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
This service was registered with us on 23 December 2021 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was registered.
Recommendations
We have made recommendations to the provider relating to ensuring staffing numbers are maintained to allow the correct support to people, making sure, where decisions are made in people’s best interests, they are fully documented and ensuring people’s involvement in care decisions is properly documented.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.