Archived: Bradford Supported Living

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.

Bradford Supported Living is a domiciliary providing care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ houses and bungalows, so that they can live in their own home 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. At the time of our inspection there were thirteen people using the service. The service can support up to 15 people.

A member of staff was available in all of the houses on a 24-hour basis. Additional support was provided on an individual basis in line with the person’s contractual agreement.

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

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.

Based on our review of key questions safe and well led, the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support

¿ Staff recruitment and induction training processes promoted safety.

¿ Risk assessments demonstrated people were supported to make choices.

¿ Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that met their needs and achieved the best possible health outcome.

¿ Peoples bedrooms were furnished and personalised to reflect their individuality.

Right Care

¿ Person centred risk assessments were in place and up to date.

¿ The service had enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

¿ People received kind and compassionate care from staff who knew them well.

Right culture

¿ Audits completed at the service by the management team had identified areas for improvement and actions taken. For example, systems had been put in place to address staffing issues so that people received consistency of care.

¿ Relatives of people using the service were not always confident in the management of the service.

¿ Relatives of people using the service were concerned about the staffing situation and use of agency staff.

¿ The management team had communicated well with people, their relatives and staff about planned changes to the service.

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 17 April 2018)

Why we inspected

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

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

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bradford Supported Living 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.

We last inspected this service on 15, 28 June and 4 July 2016.

. This service provides care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live in their own home 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 care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People we with told us they felt safe and did not raise any concerns about the way they were treated. Staff were aware of the actions they would take to keep people safe if they were concerned someone was at risk of abuse. Appropriate systems were in place to protect people from the risk of harm.

Overall risks to people’s health, safety and welfare were identified and action taken to manage the risk. We recommended the registered manager ensured more detailed information was recorded in plans so staff knew what actions to take in an emergency. Staff demonstrated a sound awareness of infection control procedures.

There was enough staff deployed. All the required checks were done before new staff started work and this helped protect people. The service is currently using agency staff, but the service has requested the staff be provided to ensure continuity for the people using the service.

Medicines were managed safely and staff had good knowledge of the medicine systems and procedures in place to support this. The support people received with their medicines was person centred and responsive to their needs.

People were provided with care and support by staff who were trained. Staff told us they had received induction and training relevant to their roles. This was followed up by competency checks. Staff received regular supervision.

People were supported with their health care needs. We saw a range of health care professionals visited the service when required and people were supported to attend health care appointments in the community.

People were supported to access activities both within the home and in the wider community. This was person centred.

People's nutrition and hydration needs were well catered for. People received a range of food which met their individual needs. Nutritional risks were well managed by the service.

Staff were spoken of highly, people who told us they were caring, kind, compassionate and respected their dignity and privacy.

People's needs were assessed prior to commencement of the service and family were involved in the review of their care. Personalised care plans were in place and these were regularly updated or when care and support needs changed.

The service was acting within the legal framework of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). Where people lacked capacity, best interest processes were followed. People were given choices and involved in decision making to the maximum extent possible.

A complaints procedure was in place which enabled people to raise any concerns or complaints about the care or support they received.

There was an open and transparent culture at Bradford Supported Living. People respected the management team and found them approachable. Staff told us they felt supported in their roles and their views were listened to through supervision and team meetings.

People using the service, relatives and staff we spoke with were positive about the management team. Staff said the manager was approachable and supportive.

The services were clean and infection control measures were in place. The service had quality assurance processes in place.