Background to this inspection
Updated
24 September 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people sharing living accommodation in two adjoining houses, which supports them to 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.
Registered Manager
This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 6 April 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform judgement.
We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We communicated with two people about their experience living at the service. We spoke with one relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, the area manager and the quality and continuous improvement lead.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and three people’s medicine records. We looked at two staff recruitment and supervision files. We also looked at agency profile to understand how the service inducts agency staff to the service.
We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures. We received feedback from one health and social care professional.
Updated
24 September 2022
About the service
St Anne’s Community Services – Calderdale Supported Living is a supported living service providing personal care to up to seven people. The service provides support to people with learning disabilities who may also be on the autism spectrum. The people lived in adjoining houses, two were in one and three in the other. People lived in tenancies agreed with the housing provider. The accommodation is split into two houses that connect through the office. 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. At the time of our inspection there were five 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.
People’s records were not always complete. The provider recognised the gaps in records and started to address the matter.
The service had a high number of vacancies so were reliant on agency staff to cover shift. We were not assured agency staff had enough training to provide safe care to people with complex needs.
Right Support
Support plans and risks to people’s safety were considered. However, there was not always clear guidance put in place to support staff. The service uses a lot of agency staff to support people. Although staff knew people well, we were not assured people were always supported by staff who had received appropriate training. People were supported to access health and community support. Staff supported people to maintain relationships that were important to them.
Right Culture
The model of care did not always maximise people’s choice, control and independence. People were not always fully considered and involved in the planning of their care, and some choices were at times restricted. Quality checks were not always robust enough to maintain and improve the quality and safety of the service. Staff felt well supported by the registered manager and could raise any issues. External professionals provided positive feedback about the manager’s approach.
Right Care
Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. Staff understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. Staff had received training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. Staff were kind, patient and respected people’s privacy and dignity.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 22 June 2018).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
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 good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from 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 continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.