Whickham 1

Updated 20 July 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 carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in one ‘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 people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including information submitted to CQC by the provider about serious injuries or events. 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.

We sought feedback from the local authority contracts monitoring and safeguarding adults teams and reviewed the information they provided. We contacted the local Healthwatch for their feedback. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with two people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including support staff and the registered manager.

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

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 looked at two 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 20 July 2021

About the service

Whickham 1 is a 'supported living' service which provides people with personal care within their own home. At the time of inspection two people were using the service.

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

People we spoke with were very positive about the service and the staff. People told us about the positive outcomes they had achieved with staff support. We observed warm and kind interactions between people and staff. Staff and the registered manager were working with people to help them become as independent as possible and transition into their own individual homes.

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.

Staff encouraged people’s independence and worked with them to set achievable goals to meet their own individual aims. People were supported by a consistent staff team who had been trained to safely support them.

People attended a range of activities in the community and local college. The staff team encouraged people to maintain relationships which were important to them.

During the pandemic the service had worked with people to ensure that they remained engaged and happy. People told us about the PPE staff wore, why it was important and how staff had kept them safe.

Risks people may face were fully identified and mitigated. Medicines were safely managed, and the service worked in partnership with other health care professionals to make sure people received a continuous level of support.

The registered manager completed audits and checks to make sure the service was delivering safe and effective care. Staff were positive about the culture at the service and the support from the registered manager.

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. People told us they were provided with choices for everything they did and how they controlled their care. Care plans were person centred and reflected the individual person’s goals and aspirations. People were at the centre of the service and the culture of the service supported this.

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 6 August 2019 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service at the previous premises was requires improvement, published on 19 March 2019.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to provide the service with a rating.

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.