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 one inspector, two assistant inspectors and a directorate support co-ordinator.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 40 small ‘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

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using the service could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this. We also wanted to allow time for people to be informed about the inspection process so they could decide if they wished to participate.

Inspection activity started on 4 December 2019 and ended on 10 December 2019. We visited the office location on 4 December 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service, including feedback from the public and information submitted within statutory notifications. Statutory notifications are reports of certain incidents providers are required by law to notify us of. We also used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We spoke with 20 people in total. We conducted two focus groups with five people and met a further ten people when we visited them in their homes. We also spoke with the registered manager, three service managers and ten support workers.

We reviewed care plans for nine people, including records related to risk, consent, medicines and personalised care planning. We looked at nine staff files and records relating to staff training and supervision. We also looked at the provider’s systems for documenting incidents, accidents and complaints. We looked at a variety of checks and audits as well as records of staff meetings.

After the inspection

We received further email evidence from the provider which we considered as part of this report. We also spoke with a local authority monitoring officer who regularly visited the service.