Sense 12 Oakfield Road

Updated 7 May 2026

Date of Assessment: 25 August to 16 September 2026. We visited the supported living service on 25 August and 01 and 09 September 2026, additional information and evidence were reviewed remotely. We looked at all 5 Key Questions: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led.

At our last focused inspection in April 2022, we issued a warning notice for a breach of regulation 17 good governance and rated the service requires improvement. This inspection was planned to follow up on action we told the provider to take.

The service is a supported living service supporting to up to 6 people with learning disabilities and sensory disabilities. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 6 people.

At this inspection we found breaches of legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, and a repeated breach of good governance. Following this inspection the overall rating has remained requires improvement.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and access to communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people which providers must adhere to.

Risks to people were not always assessed, monitored or managed effectively. Environmental safety checks were not always robust. Governance systems were in place but were not always effective. Care plans and risk assessments lacked information to guide and inform staff about safe and effective care and some records were inaccurate.

We found the provider promoted the principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People’s needs, preferences, aspirations and outcomes were reviewed in accordance with its principles and people were supported with opportunities to live an ordinary life and be supported in ways that reflected their individual choices and goals.

People were supported by staff who were warm, caring and respectful. All the staff we spoke with were kind and compassionate when speaking about the people they supported. The atmosphere in the home was friendly and relaxed. People were supported to maintain relationships with family and friends. Staff worked with external health and social care professionals to support people’s needs. The provider acted quickly when issues were identified.

At this inspection we found the provider had made some improvements including improving the oversight of incident and accidents. However, systems for the oversight of risk were not fully embedded and the provider remained in breach of regulation 17 good governance. We also identified a breach of regulation 12 safe care and treatment. We have requested an action plan for the breach of regulation 12 safe care and treatment. Regarding the breach of regulation 17 where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.

Updated 7 May 2026

As part of our inspection, we spoke with people, some family members and professionals involved in their care.

We saw people were spoken to respectfully and staff and people knew each other well and enjoyed a positive relationship and engaged with each other in a way that demonstrated this. All staff interacted positively with people and visitors; they were warm and friendly.

We observed people being supported with a range of daily tasks during our visit, including use of facilities within their local community. There was a person-centred approach to routines and people appeared relaxed and comfortable in the company of staff.

As part of our inspection, we also spoke to some family members. They felt the provider was able to keep their loved ones safe. A family member told us how they were kept well informed about their family member. Some family members made suggestions about improvements to activities and also mentioned there had been staff and management changes that did impact on their loved one’s care.

Some people could not directly tell us about their experiences. We spent time at the service and used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We observed staff engaging well with people.

A professional involved in people’s care told us they felt staff were caring and attentive to people’s needs.