We carried out a review of the data available to us about Potensial North East Supported Living 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 Potensial North East Supported Living, you can give feedback on this service.
Potensial North East Supported Living is a service registered to provide personal care to individuals living in their own homes and they primarily offer services to adults with learning disabilities or autistic people. At the time of our inspection there were 10 people using the service .
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
Right Support
People were regularly asked for their opinions and gave them freely. People were involved in discussions about their support and given information in a way they understood. Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests in the local area. People told us they could choose their own social interests and were supported by staff to do this. Where people had support, they told us this was flexible, available when required and to the level they needed. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing. People were supported safely with medicines. Infection prevention and control practices reflected current guidance.
Right Care
Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. The provider had introduced an system for managing and overseeing the recruitment process centrally, some of the templates such as application forms would benefit from enhancement. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity. People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.
Right Culture
The service was open to new ways of working and ongoing improvements were introduced to promote independence and inclusivity. People received good quality care, support and treatment because trained staff could meet their needs and wishes. Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. They sought advice and feedback from everyone involved in people's care. Staff were aware of and working to best practice guidance for supporting people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 27 May 2021).
At the time we found the service was in breach of 2 regulations regarding the effectiveness of the service’s quality assurance and submitting notification to us. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
At our last inspection we recommended that staffing levels and training needs were regularly reviewed in line with best practice guidance and taking into consideration the assessed needs of people using the service. At this inspection we found the provider had made improvements.
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led which contain those requirements. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
Potensial North East Supported Living is a supported living service providing personal care to adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs. People lived in their own accommodation, either alone or with others in a house with shared communal areas. Some accommodation had a room for staff to use if people required 24-hour support. At the time of our inspection the service supported 10 people living in their own homes.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Risks around behaviours which challenge were not always appropriately assessed. We found no evidence that people had been harmed, however, this placed both people and staff at risk of harm. Staff did not always have enough training to support people with learning disabilities and behaviours which challenge. We were not always assured the risks of lone working had been fully assessed. We have made a recommendation about staffing levels and training needs.
Quality assurance measures were not always effective and had not picked up the issues we identified on inspection. Medicine errors had been identified, but there was no evidence of lessons learnt. We found the service had not informed us of an important event which was in breach of regulatory requirements.
People told us they felt safe. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities. Policies and procedures were in place to safely store and support people to take their medicines. Infection control policies and procedures were in place to help keep people safe.
Pre-admission assessments were carried out and the service provided good support for people when they began using the service. People were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. People were given choice around their meals and encouraged to be as involved as possible.
People were observed to be happy and settled and supported by a staff team who knew each person’s individual needs and preferences. People were involved in decisions about their care and easy read documentation was used to help people’s understanding. Feedback was sought from people, relatives and staff. Staff had regular supervisions and appraisals and told us they felt supported by management. People were referred to other professionals when appropriate and in a timely manner.
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.
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.
This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture. People were given choice and were supported to be as independent as possible. People were encouraged to pursue their individual likes and interests. People were treated with dignity and respect and staff spoke about the importance of this. The service had a person-centred culture and was open to suggestions and feedback.
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 has moved address. The last rating for the service at the previous premises was good (published on 13 April 2018).
This service was registered with us at the current address on 23 September 2019 and this is the first inspection at the current premises.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection to assess the standard of care delivered by the service and award a rating.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service.
We have identified breaches in relation to good governance at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
We have identified a breach in relation to the service’s regulatory requirement to notify CQC of important incidents. This will be dealt with outside of the inspection process.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.