Last updated 25 May 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and one expert by experience who made telephone calls to relatives of people to obtain their feedback about the service that their relative received. 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: Lifeways Community Care (New Barnet) is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people with learning disabilities, acquired brain injuries, physical disabilities, autism and mental health who live in their own home or within supported living schemes. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 15 people with their personal care.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection: We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to know that the registered manager would be available to support the inspection process. We also needed to obtain people’s consent to visit them as the service supported people in their own flats within a supported living scheme and in the community.

Inspection site visit activity started on 17 April 2019 and ended on 18 April 2019. We visited the office location on 17 April 2019 and visited people who used the service in their own homes, with their permission on the 18 April 2019.

What we did: Prior to the inspection, we reviewed the information that we held about the service and the provider including notifications affecting the safety and well-being of people who used the service. We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR) which the provider had sent to us. A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and the improvements they plan to make. We also looked at the action plan that the provider had submitted following the last inspection in February 2018 which listed the improvements they planned to make.

During the inspection we spoke with five people using the service and six of their relatives to obtain their feedback on the care and support that they or their relative received. We also observed interactions between people and care staff. We spoke with the registered manager, two service managers, three team leaders and four support workers.

We looked at the care records, medicines administration records and medicine supplies for six people who used the service. We also looked at the personnel and training files of four staff. Other documents that we looked at relating to people's care included risk assessments, staff meeting minutes, handover notes, quality audits and policies and procedures.