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Sense 12 Oakfield Road

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

12 Oakfield Road, Selly Park, Birmingham, West Midlands, B29 7EJ (0121) 472 5114

Provided and run by:
Sense

All Inspections

27 April 2022

During an inspection looking at part of 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.

About the service

Sense 12 Oakfield Road is a supported living service providing personal care to six people at the time of the inspection.

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

Based on our review of Safe, Effective and Well led the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right Support

¿ The provider had not always assessed, monitored and mitigated the risks associated with people’s care.

¿ The provider had not always ensured incidents were reviewed to reduce the chance of reoccurrence and take learning from them. As a result appropriate responses to incidents had been delayed.

¿ Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

¿ Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community.

¿ Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs.

Right Care

¿ Not all staff had received the training deemed necessary by the provider. Those staff who had received training informed us how they applied it in supporting people with their individual needs.

¿ People’s care and support plans, on the whole, reflected their range of needs and this promoted their wellbeing. We found that staff’s knowledge of people’s support needs had not been consistently incorporated into these care plans.

¿ People who had individual ways of communicating, using body language, sounds, Makaton (a form of sign language), pictures and symbols could communicate with staff and others involved in their care and support. However, we received feedback that staff needed additional training to facilitate this communication further and to gain the necessary skills to understand all of people’s communication needs.

¿ Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

¿ The service had enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

Right culture

¿ Staff and relatives evaluated the quality of support provided to people. However, people had not always been involved in these reviews.

¿ Relatives had been involved in planning people’s care. However, we found that systems for new admissions to the service had not been consistently followed and as such all the information about a person’s care had not been formulated.

¿ Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing.

¿ The service enabled relatives to work with staff to develop the service.

¿ Staff felt well supported in their role, felt able to raise any concerns and enjoyed their roles in supporting the people who lived at 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 and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 20 March 2020). 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 the previous regulation. However, a different breach of regulation was identified in relation to the manner in which the service was monitored. The service remains rated requires improvement. This service has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support, right care, right culture. This focused inspection was also carried out to follow up on action we had told the provider to take at the last inspection and was in part prompted by a notification of a specific incident where a person sustained a serious injury.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe, effective and well led. 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 remained the same based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe, Effective and Well Led sections of this full report.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sense 12 Oakfield Road on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to the systems to ensure safe and good quality care at this inspection.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure they improve their rating to at least good. We will work with the local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

5 February 2020

During a routine inspection

About the service

SENSE 12 Oakfield Road provides personal care and support to people who have sensory needs and/or people living with a learning disability. At the time of the inspection three people were receiving support from the service. 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

The provider had quality assurance systems in place and action plans were in place to make improvements. However, some issues were yet to be addressed. We identified some further issues during the inspection that had not been picked up by managerial observations or by in-house audits. For example, in relation to best interest decisions and records relating to risk assessment, concerns received, and activities offered. Improvement was needed to assessment processes to make sure the service was suitable to people's needs.

People were generally supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. However, some decisions had been made without following robust best interest assessments.

People received support from staff when needed. Additional staff had been recruited to reduce the use of agency staff. Where people were supported with medicines this had been provided safely. The provider completed employment checks to ensure staff were suitable to deliver care and support before they started work.

Staff had the appropriate skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs and received training and ongoing support. People had been supported to maintain their health and wellbeing and had access to healthcare services when required. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink to maintain their well-being.

People received help and support from a kind and compassionate staff team with whom they had positive relationships with. Staff showed respect for people's rights, privacy, dignity and independence.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 31 January 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to the lack of robust processes to ensure care was personalised and able to meet people's needs effectively.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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.