Limelight

Updated 10 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

This service provides care and support to people living in one supported living setting, 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.

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:

The inspection took place on 19 March 2019 and was announced. We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection visit, because it is small and we needed to check whether people, staff and managers would be available for us to speak with.

What we did:

Before the inspection

We reviewed notifications we received from the service in line with their legal obligations. We looked at information the provider had sent us about the service in the Provider Information Return (PIR) and asked the local authority to give us feedback about the service.

During the inspection

We spoke with the four people who used the service and observed interactions between people living at the service and staff. We spoke with four staff members, including two support workers and the two directors, one of whom is the registered manager. We looked at two people’s care records and checked records relating to people’s medicines. We viewed people’s comments and satisfaction surveys, monitoring and quality assurance reports, incident and accident overviews, as well as recruitment, supervision and training information.

Updated 10 April 2019

About the service:

Limelight is a ‘supported living’ service in Cheadle, providing personal care to four people with a learning disability and/ or autism in their own tenancies.

People’s experience of using this service:

All of the people who lived at Limelight told us in their words or own ways of communicating that they were very happy with the care they received. One person told us, “They are here to look after us – and they do that. They do it perfectively.”

The provider, registered manager and long-standing staff team had created an exceptionally caring service for, and in real partnership with, the people using it. The service’s outstandingly caring culture was reflected in the way that people who lived at Limelight supported and respected each other in truly nurturing, kind ways. There was a consistent focus on promoting people’s quality of life through developing their independence and choices.

People told us, and we saw, that the service promoted good health and wellbeing outcomes for people, including support to eat well. People were listened to by staff, but also supported to speak up and be respected, valued members of their community. People felt safe with the care and support from staff. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and provide flexible, person-centred support, including access to meaningful activities.

People using the service and staff were involved in the design and delivery of their care and the service. Staff felt well supported by managers, through supervision and training. Learning opportunities were also available for people using the service.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated Good (13 April 2016). The service continued to meet the characteristics of Good in most of the areas we looked at.

The service had developed an exceptionally caring culture under remarkably dedicated leadership and enhanced people’s quality of life. We therefore improved the rating for Caring to Outstanding. Further information about these improvements is in the full report under our Caring findings.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection that was scheduled based on the previous rating. We inspected to check whether the service had sustained its Good rating.

Follow up:

We will follow up on this inspection through ongoing monitoring of the service, through conversations and notifications.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk