We carried out a review of the data available to us about Lifeways Community Care (North of the Tyne) 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 Lifeways Community Care (North of the Tyne), you can give feedback on this service.
Lifeways Community Care (North of Tyne) is a supported living service providing the regulated activity personal care. The service provides support to people with a learning disability or autism. At the time of our inspection there were 28 people using the service who required support with personal care.
The service supports people in their own homes. Staff supported people for either all or part of the day. Where people needed help over 24 hours then arrangements are made for staff to sleep at the property, at the same time causing the least disruption to people’s living environment. Some people lived on their own and some people shared their homes with a number of other people. People rented their homes from a private landlord and were reliant on the landlord to deal with maintenance and upkeep of the property.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
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.
Right support: People were supported to make choices in their daily lives, although this was sometimes limited due to staffing issues prompted by current national recruitment difficulties. People were supported with shopping and preparing meals and engaged in a range of outside activities. They were able to maintain family relations, develop friendships and engage with the local community. Some people were actively involved in reviewing and auditing the service to ensure it was safe and that other people were receiving the care and support they needed. Staff had a good understanding of people’s needs and were encouraging of people to set and achieve new goals.
Right care: Care was centred around people’s particular needs and likes. Staff were fully aware they were supporting people in their own homes and ensured people were happy with their actions when providing care. Personal care was provided in a thoughtful and dignified manner and people were highly complimentary about the way staff helped them. Relatives and outside professionals said the service provided good care and helped to improve people’s everyday lives.
Right culture: Staff talked positively about the role they undertook and consistently strived to deliver person centred care. People were supported by a staff group that had access to a good range of training and who were well supported by managers through regular checks, supervision and appraisal. People were empowered to live their best lives possible and were valued as individuals. They were encouraged to be part of the community. Relatives and professionals told us people had developed skills since being supported by the service and were enjoying life.
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.
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
This service was registered with us on 23 December 2021 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was registered.
Recommendations
We have made recommendations to the provider relating to ensuring staffing numbers are maintained to allow the correct support to people, making sure, where decisions are made in people’s best interests, they are fully documented and ensuring people’s involvement in care decisions is properly documented.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.