3 August 2023
During a routine inspection
Oldham is a supported living service providing personal care. The service provides support to autistic people and people with a learning disability living in their own homes, some of whom had a history of offending. People had their own tenancy agreements for their flats or homes. Several flats were in the two buildings situated next to each other, where there was also an office for the service. Some people shared a flat, having their own bedroom and sharing the kitchen, lounge and bathroom. Other people lived on their own. Most people had the support of waking night staff. At the time of our inspection there were 18 people using the service.
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.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support
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. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff had training and support for their roles and knew people well. Staff had been safely recruited. Staff supported people to be independent and involved in daily activities where possible. People were supported to maintain a healthy diet.
Right Care
People received their medicines as prescribed. People’s needs were assessed before moving to the service and a transition period was used to review their support needs and ensure their needs were being met. Person-centred support plans and risk assessments were in place and regularly reviewed. People’s wishes for their end-of-life care were recorded where they had wanted to discuss this.
Right Culture
People were positive about their support, and we observed good interactions between people and staff throughout the inspection. People were asked for their feedback on their care and they and, where applicable their families, were involved in planning and agreeing their care. People’s cultural needs were being met. Staff enjoyed working at the service and felt able to raise any ideas or concerns they had with the management team. A quality assurance system was in place and incidents were reviewed to identify any lessons learnt. The registered manager understood the duty of candour.
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 16 March 2018).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.