Brandon Trust Supported Living - Oxfordshire

Updated 24 August 2022

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 three inspectors and three Expert’s by Experience.

An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to 134 people living in 47 ‘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.

The service has five managers registered with the Care Quality Commission. Each registered manager was responsible for overseeing an allocated number of supported living settings. 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 seven days notice of the inspection. This was because the service was large and the supported living settings were located over a large geographical area.

Inspection activity started on 16 June and ended on 15 July 2022. We visited the office location on 16 July 2022.

What we did before inspection

The provider sent copies of policies, care plans, care records and quality assurance records prior to the inspection visit, which we reviewed remotely. We also sent the provider a set of additional questions related to providing care in supported living settings. These questions helped us to understand people’s experience of receiving care and identify examples of good quality care. We contacted professionals with recent experience of working with the service to gain feedback about the quality of care. We received feedback from two commissioners, two housing providers, two health professionals and two GP practices. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited 40 people in 15 supported living settings over 4 separate days. We spoke with 25 relatives via telephone to give feedback about their family members care. We spoke with 21 members of staff including the five registered managers, the area manager, care staff and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included eleven people’s care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 24 August 2022

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

Brandon Trust Supported Living Oxfordshire is a supported living service providing personal and nursing care to people with a learning disability in their own houses and flats. At the time of inspection there were 134 people using the service in 47 separate supported living settings. Some people lived on their own, whilst other people lived in shared accommodation. People received a variable number of care hours per week, depending on their assessed needs.

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

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 was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. Right support- People had choice and control around their care arrangements. Care focussed on people’s abilities and promoted their independence. Right care- staff were respectful of people’s dignity, privacy and treated them as individuals with their own beliefs, thoughts and aspirations. Right Culture- the provider’s management displayed caring and person-centred values. They modelled this behaviour to staff and set expectations that these values should be integral to staff’s working practice.

Care enhanced people's lives by helping them to develop their skills and seek opportunities to have useful, fulfilling lives. People were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them and care was arranged so people could access the services and activities which they wished. People’s care plans identified how they would like to be supported and what they would like to achieve with the help of care and support. People’s communication needs were identified and met to help ensure they could give meaningful feedback or raise concerns around their care.

People received safe care focussed on minimising restrictions related to their care to promote their safety. People were supported to take positive risk to promote their independence whilst still receiving support to help keep them safe. There were enough staff in place, who had received the right training and support in their role.

People were supported to lead healthy lives and access healthcare services when required. Staff had worked with many people to overcome their anxieties around accessing healthcare services. Where appropriate, healthcare professionals were involved in planning and reviewing people’s care. Staff were proactive in maintaining these relationships and effective in implementing healthcare professional’s advice.

There were effective systems to oversee the quality of the service. There were registered managers in place who were responsible for organising and overseeing people’s care. The registered managers were knowledgeable, approachable and professional in their role. They had a good understanding of people’s needs and how they wished to be supported.

Staff were caring and kind. People and relatives told us that staff were patient and understanding. Staff were motivated in their role and understood the principles of promoting people’s privacy, dignity by treating them with respect.

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 good (published 1 April 2020)

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture.

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.