Background to this inspection
Updated
24 October 2019
The inspection
We planned to carry out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
Two inspectors were planned to undertake this inspection.
Service and service type
Normanshire – Supported Living Services Ltd provides care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ settings, so that 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 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
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 sought feedback from the local authority. We used all of this information to plan our inspection
During the inspection
When we arrived at the inspection, the registered manager told us that there were no records currently kept at the address because these had been relocated. We asked the registered manager to send us a copy of the staff rota for each of the supported living services. However, we were unable to continue with this inspection as there were no records for us to view.
After the inspection
The registered manager sent us a copy of the staff rota for each supported living setting as requested.
Updated
24 October 2019
About the service
Normanshire – Supported Living Services Ltd provides personal care and support in five settings to people with learning disabilities and autism who may have behaviour that challenges services.
People’s experience of using this service
We were unable to fully inspect the service because there was no information kept at their registered address. Concerns had been raised about staffing levels and we were able to check records about numbers of staff on duty from rotas sent to us following our visit. Records showed people were not being supported by competent staff due to staff working excessive hours without a reasonable rest break or being rostered to work at more than one setting at the same time.
The provider had moved address and was operating from an address that was not registered with the Care Quality Commission. The provider had not picked up on the issue of staff being rostered on at more than one location at the same time or on the issue of staff working excessive hours.
We found two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in relation to staffing and good governance. We found one breach of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 in relation to the provider’s registration.
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 21/12/2018).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to the management of medicines and staffing. As a result we undertook a focussed 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 the 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 inadequate. This is based on the findings at this inspection. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Normanshire Supported Living Services Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Enforcement
We have identified breaches in relation to the provider's registration, staffing and good governance at this inspection.
Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.
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.
Special Measures
The overall rating for this service is ‘Inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’. This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider’s registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.
If the provider has not made enough improvement within this timeframe. And there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.
For adult social care services, the maximum time for being in special measures will usually be no more than 12 months. If the service has demonstrated improvements when we inspect it and it is no longer rated as inadequate for any of the five key questions it will no longer be in special measures.