Sheffield Supported Living

Updated 18 June 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and two Experts by Experience. 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 six ‘supported living’ settings, so 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.

The service had a manager who was in the process of registering with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 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 and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 11 people who lived at Sheffield Supported Living and 16 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We met with the regional manager, three team leaders and ten care staff. We spent time looking at written records, which included six people’s care records and three electronic staff personnel files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 18 June 2021

About the service

Sheffield Supported Living Service provides personal care to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so they can live as independently as possible. At the time of the inspection there were 56 people using the service who received personal care from six supported living schemes across Sheffield and Rotherham.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Systems to assess, monitor and improve the service were not effectively implemented.

Risk assessments were not always effective as they were not frequently updated to reflect people's current needs. Medicines were mostly managed in a safe way but systems in place to check staff competency and training required improvement. Systems to safeguard people from abuse were not always effectively implemented or monitored.

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.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

People using the service lived in small domestic style properties to enable them to have the opportunity of living a full life. People had their own bedroom and shared lounge and kitchens. Where required staff slept in the house to be available in the event of an emergency.

Right care:

Care and support plans were person-centred but not always reviewed or updated to reflect peoples changing needs.

Right culture:

The service promoted people’s independence and choice to support people to be part of their community and participate in the activities they wanted to do.

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 29 July 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the care people were receiving. 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.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We have found evidence the provider needs to make improvement. 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 Sheffield Supported Living on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment and governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.