Lifeways Community Care Limited (Birmingham & Wolverhampton)

About the service

Lifeways Community Care Limited (Walsall) is registered to provide personal care services to people in their own homes or supported living. People the service supports have a range of needs including physical disability and learning disability. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection look at people’s personal care and support.

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. At the time of the inspection there were 40 people receiving support which was overseen by 2 registered managers across 20 locations.

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

Right Support:

Not all staff training and competency checks were up to date and further work was required to address this to ensure all staff had the skills to meet people’s needs.

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.

Staff knew people well and people told us they felt safe when supported by staff, but some people’s care plans did not contain up to date or correct information about how to meet their needs.

Right Culture:

The registered managers responded quickly to the concerns we identified on inspection, however, it was acknowledged the existing systems and processes in place were not providing them with effective oversight of the service and the people and staff they were responsible for.

Management’s plans to improve quality assurance systems had not been fully implemented and the registered managers had to rely on other, less effective methods of gathering information in order to provide them with oversight of the service.

The service was supported by two registered managers, who were working closely together to promote a positive culture within the service. People and staff told us they felt supported and were able to raise any concerns confident they would be listened to and dealt with appropriately.

Right Care:

Across the different supported living settings we visited, we found people received person centred care and were treated with dignity and respect. People were supported by staff who were aware of what was important to them and how they wished to spend their time.

Staff had received training in safeguarding people from poor care and abuse and were aware of their responsibilities to report and act on any concerns that came to their attention.

People told us the staff who supported them were kind and caring and we observed positive relationships between staff and people being supported by the service.

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 27 April 2021)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about moving and handling practices. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

During the inspection, the provider took action to mitigate any potential risks that were bought to their attention.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Lifeways Community Care Limited (Walsall) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to regulation 17 good governance and regulation 18 staffing at this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Lifeways Community Care (Walsall) is registered to provide personal care services to people in their own homes or supported living. People the service supports have a range of needs including physical disability and learning disability. 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.

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. At the time of inspection there were 59 people receiving support which was overseen by two registered managers.

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

Managers understood their responsibilities to keep people safe. Care plan audits were not always robust to identify gaps in people’s records. Identified errors were not always actioned timely. Professionals didn’t always know who the managers were. People's opinions were sought, and they were involved in their care.

Systems and processes were in place to keep people safe, risks were assessed and managed. There were enough staff who were experienced and knowledgeable to meet people's needs. Medicines were safely managed and administered to people as prescribed. Staff were aware of current infection control procedures and followed Government guidance.

People were encouraged to make choices; their needs were assessed, and care was reviewed regularly. Staff received training in relation to the needs of the people. Staff worked with a range of professionals involved in people’s care. People were supported to attend regular appointments and supported to eat healthily and maintain fluids.

People were involved in their care and supported to maintain their identity. Care was person-centred with people's privacy, dignity and equality maintained. Care was personalised and people are supported to communicate effectively, complaints were recorded and managed.

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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People had choice and were supported to be as independent as possible.

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 18 August 2018).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about people’s safety. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this full report.

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.

Lifeways Community Care (Walsall) is registered to provide personal care services to people in their own homes or supported living. People the service supports have a range of needs including physical disability and learning disability. 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.

On the day of the inspection there were 88 people receiving support. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were supported safely by care staff who knew how to keep people safe and the actions they needed to take where people were at risk of harm. There was enough care staff to support people and the support was given in a timely manner. Care staff had the right protective equipment to reduce the risk of infection while supporting people. People’s medicines were administered as it was prescribed.

Care staff were given the skills, knowledge and support to be able to meet people’s needs. People had choice and control over the support they received from care staff and they decided how they would be supported. People’s consent was sought and the Mental Capacity Act (2005) was adhered to, to ensure people were not restricted unlawfully.

Care staff supported people in a kind and caring manner. People were involved in the assessment and support planning process. Care staff supported people in line with Equality Act (2010). People’s privacy and dignity was being respected.

The provider had a complaints process in place to enable people to share any concerns.

The provider carried out spot checks, monitoring and audits to ensure people received the support they wanted. However, they were not effective in ensuring the environment in which people lived respected their privacy and dignity.

The provider did not ensure that the care records and documentation they used to show how people were being supported was kept consistent in line with their expectations.

People were able to share their views by way of completing a questionnaire, but feedback was not always made available consistently.

Lifeways Community Care Limited (Walsall) is registered to provide personal care services to people in their own homes or supported living. People the service supports have a range of needs including physical disability and learning disability. On the day of the inspection, 82 people were receiving support. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act (2008) and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff told us that they knew how to keep people safe and had the training to do so. People told us they were safe. People were supported with their medicines as it was prescribed.

Care staff received the support they needed so they would have the skills and knowledge required to meet people’s needs how they wanted. The provider adhered to the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) so people’s human rights were not unlawfully restricted. Where people needed support with health care they were able to receive this support from care staff.

Care staff supported people in a kind and caring manner. The provider ensured advocate support was available where this was required. People’s privacy, dignity and independence was respected. People decided how they were supported which care staff respected.

Before people were supported they were involved in an assessment and support planning process which illustrated how they would be supported. People had access to a complaints process so they could raise concerns about the service they received if they had a need to.

We found that spot checks and audits were taking place to ensure the quality of the service people received, however theses checks were not always sufficiently effective in identifying areas for improvement.

People were able to share their views by way of completing a provider questionnaire survey.