Woodside Court Supported Living

Updated 5 December 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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one Expert 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

The service is a supported living service. This service provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, 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.

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 not a registered manager in post. However, the manager had applied to register with CQC and we are assessing their application.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 36 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

Inspection activity started on 19 October 2023 and ended on 26 October 2023. We visited the location's office on 19 October 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 2 people who use the service and 2 relatives of people who use the service. We also spoke with 7 staff, including a director, the area manager, the manager and care workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included 5 people's care records and 3 staff records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were also reviewed.

Following our visit to the service, we reviewed more records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 5 December 2023

About the service

Woodside Court Supported Living is a supported living service providing personal care to up to 17 people. The service provides support to people with mental health needs and younger adults. At the time of our inspection there were 15 people using the service.

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. At the time of our inspection there were 5 people receiving personal care.

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

Medicines management was not always safe. This put people at risk of potential harm. However, we found no evidence anyone had been harmed and people and their relatives said they felt the service was safe. The provider’s quality assurance systems and processes were not always effective. The provider’s audits had not identified the issues we found during our inspection and action had not always been taken to resolve issues in a timely manner when issues had been identified.

Risks to people were assessed and there were plans to mitigate and manage risks. There were systems and processes to protect people from abuse and improper treatment. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and new staff were recruited safely. There were infection prevention and control procedures to prevent and control the spread of infection. Staff learned lessons when something went wrong.

There was a positive culture and the care and support people received was inclusive and empowering and achieved good outcomes for them. The provider, managers and staff understood their duty to communicate openly and honestly when something went wrong. The provider engaged people, their relatives, and staff in the development of the service. There were systems and processes to support continuous learning to improve care. Staff worked well in partnership with other services, organisations and agencies to provide people’s care and support.

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.

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 10 October 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified a breach in relation to safe care and treatment and at this inspection.

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

We have also recommended the provider reviews their quality assurance systems and audit processes to ensure there are always effective.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.