We carried out a review of the data available to us about Empowered Living Ltd on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Empowered Living Ltd, you can give feedback on this service.
Empowered Living is a domiciliary service caring for people living in their own homes. This included providing the 24-hour support at one supported living property. The service supports people who have a learning disability and / or autistic people in addition to those who required support due to their mental health needs.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Staff received support and training in their role. We have made a recommendation about staff undertaking specialist training. The staff team understood people’s communication needs and liaised with professionals when required.
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. Records in this area did require further development. For example, mental capacity assessments had not always been completed and a record of consent was not in place.
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.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of "Right support, right care, right culture". There was a clear emphasis on encouraging independence, community engagement and choice. The registered manager operated in a person-centred way and led by example in this area.
Elements of the recruitment process were not robust. We have made a recommendation about the recruitment of new staff.
People gave us positive feedback about their experience of working with and being supported by Empowered Living. Staff understood what actions to take if they had concerns that somebody was at risk of harm. Identified risks were recorded and consideration given as to how these could be mitigated.
We received positive feedback about staff approach towards people. Staff spoke about people in a respectful way and were keen to promote their independence.
People received person-centred support and activities were tailored to their interests. No formal complaints had been received and the registered manager resolved any issues quickly and proactively.
The staff team were engaged with the visions and values of the service and were passionate about their role. The registered manager had an informal process of quality assurance and was actively involved in supporting people and regularly received feedback. The registered manager recognised that elements of their recording keeping needed to be more robust. The registered manager had a good understanding of best practice and promoted this amongst their staff team.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we inspected
The service was registered on 18 June 2018 and this is the first inspection.
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.