You First Support Services CIC

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

At this assessment we found the service was not consistently well led. There was a genuine commitment to learning and in making improvements.

This service scored 61 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Shared direction and culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Whilst registered managers understood their legal responsibilities, we were not assured all registered managers would ensure all staff demonstrated the high standards expected of them. We were also not assured all registered managers would ensure all staff adhered to the provider’s policies/procedures or would follow the concerns, complaints or whistle blowing processes consistently. We asked 1 registered manager if they thought policies and procedures applied to all staff at every level of the organisation. They said they did not before, “But do now.”

The provider had improved management systems and processes in the last 18 months since 2 new senior leaders had been in post. However, despite these improvements, 1 senior member of staff had failed to embody the culture and values of the organisation or adhere to policies for a significant amount of time. This had been allowed to continue without any provider intervention. This had contributed to 1 person not being kept safe from harassment or abuse.

We did not look at Freedom to speak up during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Governance, management and sustainability during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Partnerships and communities during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Registered managers told us they felt communication and support within the service had improved. One registered manager told us, “Communication within the manager’s team is good. We have weekly manager’s meetings, we have rostering meetings, we discuss people's hours and staff support. We have morning meetings every day where we discuss ‘hot spots’, on call cover, safeguarding issues, things like that.” However, we found when the level of serious concerns about 1 staff member escalated, no action was taken by the provider to ensure that only 1 person who used the service had been affected until we asked for such assurances. One registered manager told us, “I was not asked about any concerns [about the staff member] until the first day you [CQC inspectors] came in last week. Nothing before that.”

A complaint made by a relative and whistle blowing concerns from a staff member about 1 senior member of staff had not been managed robustly in line with the provider’s policies and/or regulations. We asked 1 registered manager if their decision making when concerns had been raised with them had been influenced by the seniority of the alleged abuser in the organisation. They said “Yes, so I didn't flag it as [the staff member was in a senior position]. I didn't think anything would happen.” The provider had failed to ensure effective governance and oversight of the service. This was a breach of Regulation 17 (Good governance) of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The registered managers used internal communication applications (‘apps’), meetings, audits, and other quality monitoring tools to review and improve the service. Each registered manager had an action plan for each of the services they were responsible for. These fed into the service’s overarching quality assurance process. It was evident throughout the assessment process, through discussions with senior staff and the registered managers, mistakes had been made. There was a willingness to learn from this, to improve some policies and the specific practice in relation to listening to concerns and responding to them irrespective of the person's role or standing within the organisation.