Real Life Options - Yorkshire

Updated 8 March 2023

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

The inspection was carried out by 3 inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency and supportive living service. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes and to people living in 7 ‘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

This inspection was unannounced. Inspection activity started on 5 January 2023 and ended on 1 February 2023. We visited the location's office on 9 January 2022, 11 January 2022 and 16 January 2022.

What we did before the 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 reviewed all other information sent to us from stakeholders such as the local authority and members of the public. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 9 staff members, including the registered manager. We looked at 5 care record, 4 medicine record and 5 staff files regarding recruitment. We also looked at quality monitoring records relating to the management of the service, such as audits and policies.

Updated 8 March 2023

Summary

Real life options- Yorkshire provide support to people with learning disabilities living in 7 supported living settings, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. The service also provides domiciliary care to people living in their own houses and flats. At the time of our inspection, 37 people were receiving a regulated activity. 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 the 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 in having choice and control over aspects of their lives, for example people living in supported living settings had personalised their bedrooms. Risks to people were recognised, assessed and managed safely. Systems were in place to protect people from abuse and improper treatment. People were encouraged to be as independent as possible.

Right Care

There was not always enough staff to support people. Staff were knowledgeable about the people they supported and had established good rapport however, the service relied on agency staff who did not always know the needs of people.

Right culture

Recent changes in management had improved the service. People were supported to regularly identify, or review, on-going individual aspirations and life goals. Management supported staff in improving practice.

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 16 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement and recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to staffing and good governance at this inspection.

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 Real life options- Yorkshire on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.