Leicestershire Community Support Scheme

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Leaders had a shared direction that made sure each individual person was at the centre of their support when decisions about their lives were being made. Managers described an improved culture where staff were encouraged to understand and support each other. Staff described a culture of positive teamwork and supportive and responsive service managers.

Relatives and staff described service managers as inclusive leaders who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. They were also positive about the registered manager. However, some relatives lacked confidence in senior managers. Relative comments included, “The [service] manager is very good and will always get back to us,” “Yes, I know the [registered] manager and I think they provide good leadership and are very caring,” “I think [service] manager is very good but above them it’s a nightmare” and “I raised issues to higher management, but the issue was pushed down again to lower management.” Staff described service managers as very supportive, approachable and responsive to any concerns. A staff member told us, “I did have concerns with previous management but have no issues at all with the current managers.” We saw the service managers and the registered manager knew people well and had good insight into challenges within the service.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up, and their voice would be heard. The provider had forums and processes where staff could raise concerns or make suggestions. We saw that management actively promoted staff to speak up to drive improvement. They encouraged staff to raise concerns, share ideas and learning and promoted the value of doing so. Staff were confident that their voices were heard, listened to and acted on. There was evidence to show managers investigated any concerns or issues sensitively and confidentially; lessons were shared and acted on. There was a whistleblowing policy in place and posters displayed informing staff how they could speak up with any concerns. People were supported to understand their tenancies and staff advocated for people to ensure they had the right care and environment to meet their needs and wishes.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Service managers encouraged teams to understand every team member’s diversity to promote tolerance and acceptance. The provider supported staff emotional and physical well being which enabled individual staff to contribute equally in their roles. This included flexibility to attend appointments, balance caring responsibilities and follow cultural and religious needs.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. Legal and regulatory requirements at the service were met and the registered manager undertook a range of audit, checks and analysis which enabled them to have good oversight of the service. For example, the registered manager was aware staffing needed to improve in some services and had begun to make improvements to address people’s concerns. Service managers played an important role in identifying improvements and ensuring these were embedded into staff working practices. There were robust systems in place to ensure regular review of people’s care plans and needs and to provide assurance people were being supported in the least restrictive way.

The provider understood and carried out their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. The leadership team had established good partnership working with various organisations and external stakeholders to provide positive outcomes for people. They knew who to contact if people required additional support from other healthcare professionals such as GPs, and district nurses. They had established positive relationships with landlords which helped people to maintain their tenancies and worked with commissioners of supported living to advocate for people in ensuring they had sufficient support to meet their needs.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research. For example, the provider had shared learning from other services where improvements had been identified. This helped to establish more robust governance and oversight of the service and develop improvements around care planning and care records.

The registered manager had plans to further grow and develop the service; they kept themselves up to date with best practice within the health and social care sector and disseminated information to the staff team. They attended meetings with other stakeholders, providers and managers to share ideas regarding how they managed their services and where improvements could be made. This was shared with service managers who in turn shared with staff.