14 June 2022
During a routine inspection
About the service
An Darach Care Lincolnshire is a community supported living service. The service provides personal care support to young adults who live in their own homes independently in the community. At the time of the inspection the service was providing care for 13 people who experienced needs relating to learning disabilities and autism. Each person had a tenancy agreement in place. At the time of the inspection there were four supported living houses, with between two to four people living in each house. There were staff supporting people in each house 24 hours a day.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support
People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives. The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) principles were followed when assessing mental capacity and in making best interests' decisions. Improvements had been made at the service to ensure that people were encouraged and supported to be as independent as possible.
Care plans focused on people’s strengths. The registered manager was working with one of the staff teams to ensure a consistent approach across the service.
Right Care
Peoples care, treatment and support plans had been improved since our last inspection to be more person centred. People were supported by using communication styles that met their needs.
People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs. This included people who had individual ways of communicating, using body language, sounds and Makaton (a form of sign language), pictures and symbols, so they could interact comfortably with staff.
People were supported by kind and caring staff who had received appropriate training. People’s families told us they felt their relatives were safe at the service. Staff had received training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew who to report to.
Right culture
Since our last inspection, the provider had made improvements, to the management structure, with the appointment of a registered manager who had oversight of all four homes. The registered manager had been working with staff teams to challenge areas of poor culture. Not all staff had been receptive to these changes and had left the service. The provider had ongoing challenges with recruitment and used agency staff to ensure staffing levels were effective and met the needs of the people at the service. The provider worked with agencies to ensure the same staff worked at the service in order to ensure consistency for the people who were being supported. Agency staff received the same training as the long-term staff team in order to understand and work with people around their specific needs.
People's quality of life was enhanced by the service's culture of improvement and inclusivity. The changes to the management team and structure of the service was beginning to show a positive impact on people's lives.
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 rating at the previous inspection was requires improvement (published 14 October 2021). At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. Based on the findings at this inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.
We undertook this inspection to check whether the Warning Notice we previously served in relation to Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, Regulation 17 (Good governance) of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and Regulation 18 (Staffing), of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, had been met. All had been met.
We also undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture.
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.