Background to this inspection
Updated
12 March 2022
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
One inspector carried out the inspection.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting so 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 a short notice period of the inspection because we wanted to be sure people would be at home to speak with us.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since its registration, including information about significant incidents. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We talked to two people who lived at the service to hear their feedback about the care and support they received. We spoke with the registered manager and three support workers.
After the inspection
We reviewed information sent to us by the registered manager, including one person’s support plans, recruitment records for two staff, quality checks and audits, training information and the business contingency plan for the service.
We spoke to two relatives of people who lived at the service to hear their views about the care their family members received.
Updated
12 March 2022
About the service
17 Heathcote Road is a supported living service which provides support to people in their own home. The service can support up to nine people in individually accessed en-suite flatlets.
The service aims to support people with mild to moderate learning disabilities, mental health needs and/or autism spectrum conditions to become more independent.
Nine people lived at 17 Heathcote Road at the time of our inspection, two of whom received support with personal care. CQC only inspects services where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
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.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
Right support:
People received consistent support from staff who were familiar to them and who knew them well.
Staff supported people to develop their skills and to be as independent as possible.
Risks were managed well to keep people safe while promoting their independence.
People were encouraged to identify goals that were important to them and staff supported them to enjoy meaningful and fulfilling lives.
Staff supported people to access healthcare services when they needed them.
Right care:
Staff understood their responsibilities in protecting people from abuse and knew how to report any concerns they had.
Staff were kind and caring. They treated people with respect and encouraged them to make decisions about their care and support.
The support staff provided was flexible to take into account people’s needs and preferences. People were able to choose how and when to use their allocated one-to-one support.
Staff supported to take part in social and leisure activities they enjoyed. People were supported to maintain relationships with their friends and families.
Right culture:
People were involved in planning their own care and were encouraged to give their views about the support they received.
People’s families were able to give their feedback about the support their family members received and their views were listened to.
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.
The registered manager had the skills and experience they needed to carry out their role and maintained a good oversight of the service.
The provider’s governance systems were effective in ensuring people were safe and received good quality support that met their individual needs.
The registered manager valued staff and supported them in their professional development.
The registered manager and staff maintained effective working relationships with other professionals to ensure people received the care they needed.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The registered provider of this service has changed since the last inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous registered provider was Good, published on 24 July 2019. This was the first inspection under the current registered provider.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the date of the service’s registration under the current registered provider.
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.