Lifeways Community Care (Poole)

Updated 3 April 2020

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

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in ‘supported living’ settings, so they can live as independently as possible. Some of these are flats in a complex of supported living housing, while others are individual houses and flats that people were renting. 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 did not have a manager registered with CQC, which is a condition of the provider’s registration. Having a registered manager means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The last registered manager had left the service and had applied to cancel their registration in October 2019. A replacement manager was in post and had commenced the process of applying to register as manager.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 20 February 2020 and ended on 19 March 2020. We visited the office location on 20 February and 4 March 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from local authorities who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met six people who used the service and spoke with two of them, and with a relative, about their experience of the care and support provided. We spoke with three support workers, a manager for the service in one of its localities, the office manager, the manager of the service overall and the area manager.

We reviewed six people’s care records including their medicines records, two staff files and a variety of records relating to the management of the service. These included complaints and compliments, safeguarding records, quality information and management reporting.

After the inspection

We had telephone calls with two relatives, who provided their views of the service.

Updated 3 April 2020

About the service

Lifeways Community Care (Poole) is a supported living service for adults with a learning disability in Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Sherborne and Hampshire. At the time of the inspection it was providing personal care to 11 people in their own homes. The main office is in Poole.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects 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.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, independence and inclusion. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

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.

People and relatives expressed confidence they or their loved one were safe from abuse and avoidable harm. People had enough staff working with them who understood their support needs, both employed and regular agency staff. The management team ensuring all overdue staff completed their outstanding online training.

People told us they liked and felt comfortable with their staff. Staff recognised the importance of treating people respectfully, upholding their privacy, dignity and independence. The way they spoke about people reflected this. Staff recognised people should have every opportunity to make choices, with support if necessary, even if they could not verbalise these.

People and relatives praised their or their family member’s care. People had thrived with support from staff they knew and trusted. Staff felt supported, including through training and supervision. The service worked collaboratively with people’s health and social care professionals. People got the support they needed to manage their health.

Support plans were comprehensive, personalised and up to date. Staff encouraged and supported people to keep in touch with their family and friends. People received support to pursue hobbies and interests, and to take part in education and work. People told us about holidays they had been on or were planning, with support from staff.

People, relatives and staff were confident in the leadership of the service. There was an open culture with an emphasis on person-centred support. There were regular audits to check the quality of care and support provided and identify areas for improvement. People and relatives regularly spoke with managers to give their view of the service. They said they would feel comfortable to raise any concerns.

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 5 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.