We carried out a review of the data available to us about Whickham 2 on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Whickham 2, you can give feedback on this 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.