9 June 2022
During a routine inspection
About the service
The Oaklea Trust (North West) provides support and personal care to people with a learning disability and/or autism living in supported living services and in their own homes the local community. 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. At the time of our inspection the service supported 20 people with their personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support
People had fulfilling and meaningful lives because staff focused on their strengths and promoted what they could do. People were supported to pursue their interests. One person told us, “I like going to Club with my friends.” Another person said, “I’m going to work today.” Staff supported people to have the maximum choice, control and independence and to have control over their own lives. People had a choice about their living environment. They were able to personalise their rooms and included in choosing décor for their homes.
Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community. They supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing. People received the support they needed to take their medicines. Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence.
Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making. They advocated for people to be able to make decisions about their own lives. People were supported to express their views and wishes because staff knew them well and knew how to communicate with them.
Right Care
People received kind and compassionate care. People said they liked the staff and enjoyed spending time with them. We observed people laughing and joking with staff.
People’s care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs and promoted their wellbeing and enjoyment of life. Staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs and respected people’s privacy and dignity. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks.
Staff understood how to protect people from abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Where concerns were raised the registered manager and staff worked cooperatively with partner agencies to resolve them.
The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. The provider had identified challenges with staff recruitment and retention and was considering innovative ways to attract and retain staff.
Right culture
People received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing. They placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.
Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity. They spoke to and about people with respect. One staff member told us, “I think [people] have good relationships with staff who ensure that they do their best to support them with any goals or aspirations they have.” The staff said they felt well supported and could raise any concerns with the service management.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
We carried out a focused inspection at this service between August and November 2021 in response to concerns about how people were protected from abuse. We looked at the key questions of safe and well-led. Both were rated as requires improvement and we found a breach of regulation. We could not give an overall rating for the service as it was the first inspection since the service had been registered with us at its new address and we had not inspected all the key questions. The outcome of the inspection was “inspected but not rated” (published 23 December 2021).
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.