We carried out a review of the data available to us about Lifeways Cumbria on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Lifeways Cumbria, you can give feedback on this service.
Lifeways Cumbria is a supported living service providing personal care to people with a learning disability, physical disabilities and mental health needs. At the time of our inspection there were 15 people receiving personal care.
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.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
People were empowered to lead fulfilling lives and make choices about how to spend their lives. Staff worked in partnership with other health and social care professionals to make sure people received the required support. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service upheld this practice.
Right Care:
People received person-centred support which promoted their independence and human rights. People were able to make their own choices and these were respected. People said they felt safe and enjoyed the service they received. The provider made sure there were enough staff to support people. People said staff assisted them to take part in their individually preferred activities and to follow their own lifestyles.
Right Culture:
The service had a positive and open culture. People were encouraged to be involved in decision-making about their service, including recruitment of staff and quality checking. Some people were 'voice ambassadors' to given people’s views at meetings with managers. Staff told us they enjoyed their roles and felt valued. Feedback about the improved management arrangements was positive. Processes were in place to safeguard people and appropriate risk assessments were in place.
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
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 30 September 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. 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
We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 15 July 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and good governance of the service.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. 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 Lifeways Cumbria on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
Lifeways Cumbria is a supported living service providing personal care to people living in their own flats within three apartment schemes around Cumbria. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 17 people with personal care.
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 this service and what we found
People had not always been protected from known risk of harm. Staff had not always followed strategies to minimise risk, so some incidents had recurred. Risk records were difficult to follow.
During the past year there had been several changes to the management of one of the schemes which had led to inconsistent governance and errors. The registered manager and one service manager were covering three different schemes, but this was not sustainable in the long term.
Some safeguarding incidents had happened again meaning lessons had not always been learnt, for example medicines errors. We have made a recommendation about this.
Several people at one scheme had complex care needs and required a lot of staff support. There were staff vacancies at this scheme. Although people’s needs were being met, we recommend dependency levels are considered when assessing any potential new placements.
The registered manager was committed to continuing improvements of the service but acknowledged this would take time and stability to resolve.
People said they really liked staff. There were good relationships between regular staff and the people they supported. Staff said they enjoyed working for the service and felt their colleagues were caring and supportive of people.
Relatives said that regular staff were “fantastic” and “lovely with people”. They said people were supported with activities and keeping in contact. They were concerned about the ‘mismatch’ of people who used one service and the number of staff vacancies.
People who were able to express a view said they felt safe. Staff received training in safeguarding and understood their responsibilities to raise concerns where necessary.
People’s independence had improved since moving to the service. Staff communicated in the right way for each person and there was information for people that met their individual communication methods. People received personalised care that was designed around their individual needs.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted 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.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People received care that upheld their dignity and human rights. The model of care and support provided to people who were living in their own homes maximised their choice, control and independence. People lived as citizens of their local community. The support provided was personalised and tailor-made to meet individual needs.
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 13 May 2020 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection of a new service.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection.
We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and good governance. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.