East Living - Domiciliary Care Service

Updated 17 January 2024

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 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides support to people living in four 'supported living' settings so that 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

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed notifications that the registered provider had sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people's care records, 8 staff files, training records, risk assessments and satisfaction surveys. We also looked at audits and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures. We spoke with 3 people during our inspection and 8 relatives by telephone to obtain their views of the service. We also received feedback from 11 members of staff about their experiences caring for people using the service.

Updated 17 January 2024

About the service

East Living provides a supported living service and a domiciliary care service to adults who have a learning disability, autistic people, and people with mental health needs. The supported living service consists of 3 houses/supported living schemes that can accommodate a total of 7 people. Each person has their own bedroom and shared communal areas.

The domiciliary care service supports up to 16 people in their own self-contained flats. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission 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. At the time of the inspection the agency was supporting a total of 10 people with personal care.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

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 assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

The service implemented innovative ways to ensure people received the care and support they required to meet their needs. For example, staff were highly effective at implementing assistive technology when caring for people that helped them with promoting their independence and to have real choice and control over their life.

The service ensured risks to people's safety and welfare were appropriately assessed and mitigated effectively. We saw that staff promoted positive risk taking and involved and supported people to set their own goals and to find solutions to mitigating risks, so they were empowered to improve their own independence and felt valued. People were supported to manage their medicines safely, and as independently as possible.

The provider had robust governance systems and processes to ensure all aspects of care and support and its delivery were monitored and checked for quality, and improvements. The service had many fantastic examples of excellent outcomes for people’s where expectations had been exceeded. The provider worked closely in partnership with other key organisations and had excellent examples of positive partnership working. People and relatives were involved in staff recruitment to help ensure that staff had the right skills and values to deliver excellent care.

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.

Right Care

We saw that the delivery of people's care was flexible and delivered in a person-centred way and led by the individual’s needs and wishes. The staff team valued feedback and involvement from everyone that used the service and health and care professionals, which helped ensure people’s care and support was consistent and tailored to the individual.

People’s care outcomes were outstanding, as people were supported to achieve positive results and barriers were broken down to ensure people could achieve their goals.

People were supported to be involved with the local community and led meaningful lives. The provider was awarded a government grant to help set up new opportunities to help prevent people from becoming isolated and lonely. Staff worked with and followed healthcare professionals’ advice and guidance to help support people to manage their health needs, such as epilepsy and diabetes.

The provider’s demonstrated a clear commitment to implement the CQC’s guidance ‘Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture’ into their services. This was included in the staff induction programme, so they were familiar with the principles which underlined Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture. People and relatives told us, they received good quality care, support, because staff had the right training and knowledge to meet people’s needs and wishes.

Right Culture

The leadership team and staff aimed for high standards of care and support. The provider’s values helped to promote an open culture which was inclusive and empowering. Staff we spoke with praised the management team for their support and guidance they provided to help staff give the best care possible.

People received support by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of needs people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. People’s quality of life was enhanced by the service’s culture of improvement and inclusivity.

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 Outstanding (published 12 February 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.