Whickham 2

Updated 17 August 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in one '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.

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 the service 24 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including information submitted to CQC by the provider about serious injuries or events. We 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.

We sought feedback from the local authority contracts monitoring and safeguarding adults’ teams and reviewed the information they provided. We contacted the local Healthwatch for their feedback. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including support staff and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included one person’s care records and multiple medication records.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were reviewed.

Updated 17 August 2021

About the service

Whickham 2 is a 'supported living' service which provides people with personal care within their own home. At the time of inspection three people were using the service. Staff support people in their own home and they have their own tenancies. Each person has their own bedroom and people share a kitchen, dining room, living room, garden and lounge.

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

People were supported by a dedicated staff team who knew them very well. People told us, “Staff are nice” and “I really like them.” We observed positive interactions between staff and people during the inspection.

People told us about the fun activities they had carried out with staff support, which included baking, volunteering and accessing the local community. During the pandemic staff had supported people to stay active by joining in with street exercises, which was featured on the local news, and going for walks.

Detailed assessments were used to create individual care plans for people, which reflected their own choices and support needs. People were encouraged to be independent and carry out activities that interested them. Risk assessments were in place for staff to follow to keep people safe. People received their medicines from qualified staff members.

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.

People had a regular staff team who had all of the required knowledge and experience to provide a consistent level of person-centred care. Staff were safely recruited by the provider and had access to on-going training and support from the registered manager.

The registered manager and provider completed a comprehensive range of audits and checks to make sure the service was providing a safe and consistently good level of care. The staff team was well established and there was a positive staff culture.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. Staff provided choices to people and asked regularly what they wanted to achieve. People were the decision-makers in their care and worked with staff to create personalised care plans which met their needs. The staff team were invested in the people they supported and put them at the heart of everything they did.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 6 August 2019 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service at the previous premises was requires improvement, published on 19 March 2019.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.