Background to this inspection
Updated
4 May 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
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in a ‘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
We gave the service short period notice 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.
Inspection activity started on 16 February 2022 and ended on 22 February 2022. We visited the location’s office on 16 and 17 February 2022.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider had sent to us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.
During the inspection
We spoke with eight staff including the registered manager, director and care workers. We spoke with five people using the service and four relatives for their views about the service. People who used the service were able to talk to us. We viewed a range of records. This included three peoples care records, including two peoples daily living records and medicine records.
After the inspection
We reviewed a range of quality assurance records and training records.
Updated
4 May 2022
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.
About the service
Littleton House is a support living service, providing personal care to 20 people at the time of inspection. The service provides support to people who have a learning disability or physical disability.
There were six houses, containing individual flats. Each person had their own bedroom and bathroom facilities. Each house contained a shared communal lounge and kitchen area.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received a service that was safe and well-led. There were systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service.
Infection prevention and control practices were safe and spot checks were carried out by the management team.
People were supported by staff who knew them well. Staff received relevant training and knew how to recognise and escalate safeguarding concerns. Peoples medicines were managed safely, and staff had been recruited safely.
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.
Based on our review of safe and well-led the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People were support to have maximum choice, control and independence. Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. The ethos, values and attitude of the management team and staff ensured people lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 11 September 2021) and there was a breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to the safeguarding of people using the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. Whilst undertaking this inspection we assessed whether the service was applying the principles of right support, right care and right culture.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. 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 requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.
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.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Littleton House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.