Background to this inspection
Updated
8 August 2018
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in. Inspection site visit activity started on 20 June 2018 and ended on 22 June 2018. The inspection included speaking with people, relatives and staff and external health and social care professionals. We reviewed care records and policies and procedures. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.
The inspection was informed by feedback from questionnaires completed by a number of people using services. This complimented staff on their caring support offered to people. We reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications that had been submitted. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We contacted the Local Authority and Healthwatch to understand if they had any relevant information to share with us.
We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
We spoke with three people who used the service and one relative who supported their family member with the management of their care. We spoke with five support workers and the registered manager. We spoke with two health and social care professionals who are involved in people’s care. We looked at aspects of four people’s care and medication records. We also looked at staffing rotas, complaints, incidents and accidents and checks of records completed by the registered manager and provider.
Updated
8 August 2018
West Midlands Supported Living Service provides care and support to four people living in two ‘supported living’ settings, 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. There were four people receiving care and support at the time of our inspection.
At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.
This inspection took place 20 June 2018 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure someone was available.
West Midlands Supported Living has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.
People continued to be kept safe with the care they received from the staff who supported them. Staff demonstrated good knowledge in how they were to protect people from harm, they recognised the signs of abuse and knew how to report this. The registered manager had identified potential risks to people and had put plans in place to support staff. This was to reduce the risk to people without taking away people’s right to make decisions about their care. There were enough staff to support people’s care needs. People were supported with their medicines in a safe way. Staff understood the importance of reducing the risk of infection to keep people safe.
People’s care continued to be assessed and reviewed with external healthcare professionals involved from the start. People were supported to have a healthy balanced diet. Where people required additional support with their eating and drinking staff knew who required this support. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. Staff worked with external healthcare professionals and followed their guidance and advice about how to support people.
People were treated well which had a positive impact on their well-being. People and relatives felt the staff team were kind and friendly and treated them with respect. Staff helped people to make choices about their care and the views and decisions they had made about their care were listened and acted upon.
People received personalised care which met their needs in a timely way. People were supported to continue with their hobbies and interests which promoted their independence and confidence. People had access to information about how they could complain about the service. Where the registered manager had received complaints, these had been responded to, and was working towards a solution to resolve this.
The provider met people in their homes to understand if they were happy with the support they received. Relatives had the opportunity to raise their suggestions and ideas about how the service was run. Staff said they felt all worked well as a team and supported by the provider to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively, through training and daily contact with the registered manager. Staff felt involved in the service and said they felt able to share their ideas about the way in which the service was run. We found checks the registered manager and the provider completed on the service focused upon the experiences of people.