Hillside

Updated 29 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

The inspection was conducted 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.

Notice of inspection

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 inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work 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 the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, team manager and care workers. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication 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.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We had feedback from three professionals that had input in the support for people.

Updated 29 June 2021

About the service

Hillside is providing personal care to three people with learning disability and mental health support needs. The service can support up to four people. Hillside is two separate attached houses, each house had three bedrooms, kitchen, living room and bathroom facilities.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The provider and registered manager had limited governance systems in place which did not formally capture improvements or actions.

People felt safe with the care provided and risks were managed well. This was due to staff training and staff understanding how to report any concerns. Risk to people were identified and were assessed to ensure that people were able to take informed risks. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited.

People’s medicines were managed safely. Staff felt they received appropriate training for their role. People’s care plans detailed what was important to them and included their likes and dislikes. 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.

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 the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People’s voice was clearly heard in the support being provided and people felt they were able to express what was important to them. People felt staff were kind and staff spoke about people and their dedication to their role in a compassionate way.

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 24 May 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection and was the first inspection.

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.