Background to this inspection
Updated
28 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
This inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The Expert by Experience made telephone calls to relatives of people using the service.
This service provides care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ settings, so 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
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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
We gave a short period notice of the second day of the inspection because some of the people living in the houses could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.
Inspection activity started on 20 April 2022 and ended on 13 May 2022. We visited the location’s office on 26 April 2022 and visited three of the houses on 28 April 2022.
What we did before inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with two people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff, including a service manager, a senior support worker, five care staff two of whom were agency staff. We carried out observations of care.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment, training and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We requested some documentation to be sent for us to review remotely.
Updated
28 May 2022
About the service
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.
Bradford Supported Living is a domiciliary providing care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ houses and bungalows, so that they can live in their own home 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. At the time of our inspection there were thirteen people using the service. The service can support up to 15 people.
A member of staff was available in all of the houses on a 24-hour basis. Additional support was provided on an individual basis in line with the person’s contractual agreement.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
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 key questions safe and well led, the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
Right support
¿ Staff recruitment and induction training processes promoted safety.
¿ Risk assessments demonstrated people were supported to make choices.
¿ Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that met their needs and achieved the best possible health outcome.
¿ Peoples bedrooms were furnished and personalised to reflect their individuality.
Right Care
¿ Person centred risk assessments were in place and up to date.
¿ The service had enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.
¿ People received kind and compassionate care from staff who knew them well.
Right culture
¿ Audits completed at the service by the management team had identified areas for improvement and actions taken. For example, systems had been put in place to address staffing issues so that people received consistency of care.
¿ Relatives of people using the service were not always confident in the management of the service.
¿ Relatives of people using the service were concerned about the staffing situation and use of agency staff.
¿ The management team had communicated well with people, their relatives and staff about planned changes to the service.
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 17 April 2018)
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bradford 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.