The inspection took place on 4 and 5 February 2016 and was announced. The service provided support to people in their own homes. Because staff and people were often out in the local community, we gave the provider 48 hours’ notice to make sure that staff would be available at the office.We last inspected the service in November 2013 where we found that they were meeting all the regulations we inspected.
There was a new manager in post. She had applied to become a registered manager with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. Since the inspection took place, the manager has now been registered with the CQC.
Northumbria Supported Living is an independent supported living service and is regulated to provide personal care and support to people living in their own homes or as tenants at Bradbury Court. Bradbury Court is a development of nine fully accessible one bedroom studio flats in the centre of Ponteland, Northumberland. The properties are owned and managed by Leonard Cheshire Disability.
Northumbria Supported Living is not regulated to provide accommodation which meant we did not inspect the premises at Bradbury Court. They support people of all ages with differing needs including older people, people with physical disabilities and specialist needs such as acquired brain injury and spinal injuries.
The service supported 10 people. There were nine people living at Bradbury Court and one person lived in the local community and was supported by their own team of staff.
People told us that they felt safe. There were safeguarding policies and procedures in place. Staff were knowledgeable about what action they would take if abuse was suspected. There were no ongoing safeguarding concerns. This was confirmed by the local authority’s safeguarding adults team.
We found some concerns with the storage and recording of medicines. We have made a recommendation that staff follow best practice guidelines regarding medicines management.
Although we did not inspect the premises at Bradbury Court, we noticed that the building appeared very clean and well maintained whilst we were walking around speaking to people in their flats. We observed however, that some of the bed rails which were fixed to some beds to reduce the risk of falls; did not fully meet the Health and Safety Executive’s guidelines to prevent injuries or entrapment. The beds and bed rails were not provided by Leonard Cheshire Disability, however, the manager immediately requested an occupational therapist [OT] assessment to ensure the bed rails were safe and suitable.
People, relatives and staff told us there were enough staff to meet people’s needs. On the day of the inspection, we saw that people’s needs were met by the number of staff on the day of the inspection. There was a training programme in place. Staff were trained in safe working practices and to meet the specific needs of people who lived at the service.
People were supported to receive a suitable nutritious diet. People, relatives and health care professionals spoke positively about the caring nature of staff. We observed that people were cared for by staff with kindness and patience.
People and relatives were complimentary about the responsiveness of staff. One relative told us that staff went, “above and beyond” to meet their family member's needs. Staff enabled people to live as full a life as possible. A creative activities programme was in place to help meet people’s social needs.
People were actively encouraged to give their views and raise concerns or complaints. There was a complaints procedure in place and people knew how to complain. Effective feedback systems were in place to obtain people’s views.
People, relatives, staff and health care professionals were complimentary about the management of the service. Staff were motivated and spoke enthusiastically about working at the service. Systems were in place to monitor all aspects of the service.