29 July 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Northern Healthcare is a 'supported living' service that provides support for people with a recognised diagnosis relating to mental health, learning disabilities, autism or acquired a brain injury, which includes support and recovery programmes. Each person has their own individual lease agreement with the housing association and a separate contractual agreement for their care.
The provider has 13 'supported living' locations nationwide and other locations currently under development. Each location contains a number of individual bedrooms or flats and shared or communal gardens, lounges, kitchens and dining areas. The service provides 24-hour support from mental health professionals, including registered mental health nurses, occupational therapists, and a cognitive behavioural therapist.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Support plans were detailed and included risk assessments in relation to people’s specific support needs. Accidents and incidents were monitored and documented. We saw the service had systems in place to keep medicines secure and oversee people administer their own medicines safely. Appropriate staffing levels were in place during our visits to the provider's locations. Good infection prevention and control practises were in place.
The provider had changed their management structure to ensure further oversight of the service and each site. Audit systems were in place to monitor the standard of support people received. Staff felt supported by the wider management team. The service worked in partnership with other health and social care organisations to achieve better outcomes for people using the service. There was a good working relationship with commissioners and health staff.
Although, statutory notifications were being submitted to the CQC when required, they were not always submitted timely. We have made a recommendation about the provider reviewing their notification systems.
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. This was a targeted inspection that considered safe management of medicines, management of risks, staffing levels and good governance. Based on our inspection of these areas the service was maximising people’s choice, control and independence through their support planning and delivery. The support people received was person-centred and the provider’s ethos involved empowering people to live independent lives.
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 08 June 2021) and there was a breach in regulations. 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 undertook this targeted inspection to look at specific concerns we had about staffing levels, safe use of medicines, whether the risks to people were safely managed, and governance systems. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains as requires improvement.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home or supported living inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on Warning Notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.
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.