Northumberland Learning Disability Service

Updated 30 June 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. 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in a number of ‘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 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 provider 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This allowed the provider time to let people know we would be visiting and provide us with records for review as part of the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send us within required timescales.

We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people and five relatives about their experience of the care provided.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records. We spoke with three members of staff, including the registered manager.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We emailed five further members of staff for their feedback, as well as two further health and social care professionals. We reviewed training information, recruitment information, policies, surveys, newsletters, and quality assurance records.

Updated 30 June 2021

About the service

Edendale House is a supported living service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supports people who have a learning disability and/or mental health needs. At the time of our inspection the service supported five people with personal care. People lived in their own flats or bungalow. These were in keeping with neighbouring properties and had access to local amenities and transport.

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. For instance, people led meaningful lives that included control, choice, and independence. Support was person-centred support, appropriate and inclusive.

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse. Staff liaised openly and proactively with external safeguarding professionals.

People's support focused on them having opportunities to gain new skills and become more independent.

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.

People told us staff were kind, caring and interested in them. People were involved and listened to in the care planning and review process; their preferences informed care plans and communication strategies.

There was a positive culture amongst the staff at the service. People were valued as individuals and encouraged to play a part in how the service was run.

There were comprehensive systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality of care being provided.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 29 April 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on our approach to inspecting newly registered services.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.