Background to this inspection
Updated
3 March 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 2 inspectors.
Service and service type
This service is a supported living service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats across the Teesside area, in partnership with a housing provider.
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
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support 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, care professionals and 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 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 spoke with 9 people who use the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, service engagement manager, a practice lead manager and 4 support workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 peoples care and medication records. We looked at other records relating to the management of the service including recruitment, staff training and supervision, and systems for monitoring quality.
Following the inspection, we received feedback from a further 9 staff members. We contacted two healthcare professionals by email but did not receive a reply. We looked at a range of documents sent to us such as audits, care records, medicine records and training information.
Updated
3 March 2023
About the service
Walsingham Support - Supported Living North East provides personal care to people. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 18 people with personal care. People lived in a variety of two, three or four bedroom houses across the Teesside area in partnership with a housing provider.
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 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:
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. One staff told us, "It's important to try new things and not just because they’ve always done it." People were supported safely with medicines. Staff followed Infection prevention and control good practice guidance.
Right Care:
Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service had enough appropriately skilled and trained staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Where people had support, this was flexible, available when they needed it and to the level they needed. Care and support was provided in a person-centred way and records reflected outcomes for people. People said staff treated them with care and kindness and supported them to take part in their individually preferred activities and to follow their own lifestyles.
Right Culture:
Overall, the culture at the service was positive. People and staff said they were listened to. The service was open to new ways of working and ongoing developments were introduced to promote independence and continuous improvement. Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. Staff told us they were supported by a strong management team.
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 this service was good (published 9 February 2018).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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 remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Walsingham Support - Supported Living North East on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.