Gateshead Supported Living

Updated 18 March 2023

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

Three inspectors and 1 Expert by Experience carried out this inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 30 ‘supported living’ settings, 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there were two registered managers in post; one covered supported living settings in County Durham and Sunderland, and the other covered supported living settings in Gateshead.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced.

We gave short notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection activity started on 21 November 2022 and ended on 25 January 2023. We visited the provider’s office on 22 November 2022 and 18 January 2023. The Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people who use the service and their relatives on 8 and 9 December 2022. We visited several supported living settings on 13, 14, 15 and 19 December 2022.

We spoke with 24 people who use the service and 11 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 26 staff members, including both registered managers, the provider’s regional head of operations, the provider’s regional manager, 6 service leads and 16 members of support staff.

We reviewed a range of records which included 8 support plans and numerous medicines records. We looked at other records relating to the management of the service including staff deployment, staff supervision, and systems for monitoring quality.

Following the inspection, we looked at a range of documents such as audits, fluid records and checks on agency staff.

Updated 18 March 2023

About the service

Durham & Sunderland Supported Living provides personal care to people living in supported living services. This service primarily offers support to adults with learning disabilities or autistic people. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 98 people in supported living settings across County Durham, Sunderland and Gateshead.

Before this inspection, the provider applied to CQC to register the supported living services in Gateshead as a separate service. During this inspection CQC approved this application. Gateshead services were inspected as part of this inspection, so the findings and overall rating for this service also apply to the newly registered Gateshead Supported Living service (https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-14623451556).

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right support

Staff focused on people's strengths and promoted what they could do, so people had a fulfilling and meaningful life. The service worked with people to plan for when they experienced periods of distress, so their freedoms were restricted only if there was no alternative. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their 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.

Right care

Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. Staff understood and respected people's religious and cultural needs and supported them accordingly. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe.

People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs. People could take part in activities and pursue interests that were tailored to them. Staff supported people to try new activities that enhanced and enriched their lives. Staff and people co-operated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.

Right culture

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management team and staff. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing. Staff placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. Staff valued and acted upon people's views. People's quality of life was enhanced by the service's culture of improvement and inclusivity.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 19 July 2021) and there were breaches 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

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

You can read the report from our last inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Durham & Sunderland Supported Living 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.