Lynwood

Updated 5 May 2021

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, 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.

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 the service is small and we wanted to ensure there were sufficient staff to support with our inspection.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who worked with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During and after inspection:

We spoke with two people who used the service to get their views on the care they received. We also spoke with two relatives by telephone following the inspection. We looked at three people’s care records and medicines records, as well as other records that support the running of the service. We spoke with five members of staff; three carers, the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

Updated 5 May 2021

About the service

Lynwood is a ‘supported living’ service and is registered to provide the regulated activity of personal care to people living in their own home. At the time of the inspection, eight people with learning and physical disabilities who were all living in the same property, were being provided with personal care.

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.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People had their own rooms and had independence to make choices about how they wanted to live their lives. Care was person centred with staff knowing people well and providing care to their liking. Staff understood the nature of the service they provided and sought to empower people to make choices.

People at the service were kept safe through robust safeguarding policy and practice. Risk assessments sought to keep people safe and mitigate risks to them. Fire risk systems were up to date and the service had acted on a recommendation we made at our last inspection. The service’s staff recruitment processes were robust. People’s medicines were managed safely. The service had implemented and was following government guidelines to limit COVID-19 transmission. Incidents and accidents were recorded and followed up on indicating lessons were learned when things went wrong.

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. The service had followed a recommendation from our previous inspection with regard to recording consent; consent to care agreements were in place as were records of best interest discussions to support people with their choices. Assessments were in line with the law and ensured people’s needs could be met by the service. Staff were supported in their roles through induction, training and supervision. People were supported to eat and drink and could make choices about the food they ate. Staff communicated effectively with each other and supported people with their health care needs.

People and relatives spoke positively about staff and management. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. Documentation at the service had been reviewed since our previous inspection. Quality assurance measures were in place. People, relatives and staff were engaged with the service through regular meetings and/or communication with the service. The service worked in partnership with other agencies to benefit people using 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 12 March 2020). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. The service has now improved to good.

Why we inspected

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions of Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

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.