Lifeways Community Care (Warwickshire & Coventry)

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

Staff were positive about how the service was developing and were supported to provide good care to people through regular and supportive contact with senior staff and the registered manager. Staff were now encouraged to make any suggestions and raise any concerns and were now confident these would be listened to. The provider had introduced an equality and diversity council, which staff contributed to. This helped to ensure staff needs would be met. People, relatives and other professionals were empowered as partners in care. There had been improvements in the way some governance systems worked. Checks were undertaken on the care provided by staff. However, some governance systems required further enhancement, to ensure the registered manager consistently had an oversight of the care provided at the service, and to maximise opportunities for taking learning from all incidents at service level.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Staff were positive about how leaders demonstrated the values and their vision for the service and told us senior staff provided the guidance they wanted so people would receive good care. One staff member emphasised how staff had worked together to improve the care provided to people, so their needs would be met. The staff member told us because of this, “I am proud of [the service], it’s fantastic. We have all done so much work.” Another staff member said, “[Senior staff member’s name] is passionate about what they do and they want to create a good environment for people.” A senior staff member told us additional staff posts had helped them to focus on developing aspects of the service further. The staff member said, “[Registered manager] has given me the time. She is very good.” Processes were in place to communicate the provider’s vision and values to staff through supervision, induction and day-to-day communication with staff. Staff and managers meetings were used to encourage staff to reflect on how they were expected to care for people.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. Staff were positive about the leadership in the service and said they were encouraged to obtain advice when they wanted, so people would be able to live the lives they wished. Staff told us they regularly saw senior staff and the registered manager in the services. One staff member said senior staff sometimes worked part of the care shifts, and this provided the opportunity to learn from senior staff and see how they approached supporting people. Staff told us the way they were led encouraged them to us their skills in collaborate ways to benefit people receiving the service. A senior staff member said, “[Registered manager’s name] is really good at picking out our strongest points.” Systems were in place to guide staff on what was expected of them through staff meetings, one to one meetings with their managers, communication books and information technology platforms. Where any concerns about staff actions were identified these were addressed. Processes were in place to recognise people and staff’s achievements and to celebrate these.

The provider now fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. Staff knew how to raise and concerns. One staff member said, “It was difficult with previous managers,” and added if concerns now occurred, “There would now be more whistle-blowings, because staff are more confident these would be responded to.” Systems were in place to ensure staff were made aware of how to raise any concerns and telephone numbers displayed were displayed for ease of reference for staff. The provider had put in a Raising Concerns and Whistle-blowing Policy in place to guide staff on the protections they had a right to expect, should they wish to raise any concerns.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Staff gave examples showing had been supported so adjustments to their work would be made, so their own protected characteristics could be met. One staff member explained they contributed to the provider’s equality and diversity council. One of the aims of the provider’s equality and diversity council is to ensure staff training is fully accessible for staff. Senior staff also told us about the support they provided to staff who may be anxious, so they could fully contribute to the support provided to people whilst ensuring their own well-being needs were met. A staff member told us about the support they received from their colleagues and senior staff and how they worked together so their communication needs were met. The staff member said there was a commitment to ensuring workforce diversity, inclusion and equality was reflected in the way they were managed and told us because of this, “[Senior staff member’s name] is a good manager and finds time to listen to us.” Processes were in place to support staff well-being. Systems were in place to promote workforce well-being, equality and diversity. Processes were in place to further support staff through staff discounts schemes. Systems were in place to help to assure appropriate action was taken by the registered manager to respond to any concerns about inappropriate action from staff.

There had been improvements in the way the service was managed, but the provider did not always have good governance. They did not always act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes. Some governance processes, designed to give the registered manager an overview of incidents across the service, required further development and embedding. This increased the risk learning would not be promptly taken from incidents across the service, or that risks to people would not be swiftly controlled. In addition, existing governance processes had not promptly identified a number of medication concerns which had been highlighted by new staff joining the service. There had also been a number of staff leaving the service. One staff member said these staff departures had helped the service to develop further. Another staff member told us, “We do have a high turnover. It can be mentally draining, but we haven't had anyone leave recently.” New staff told us they felt very well supported. One new staff member described the support they received and said, “It's a blessing to a new guy.” However, staff advised us there had been improvements in the way the service was managed and people’s care was organised. This had led to people experiencing improved care planning arrangements, with key information about their health needs now documented. The provider had now taken action to ensure people's emergency evacuation plans were consistently realistic. There had been further development of checks and governance processes to ensure people received person centred care, with their individual goals taken into account. Staff understood what was expected of them and said meetings provided them with guidance about how they were to care for people. Staff told us about the checks on their work which were undertaken by senior staff and said they regularly spoke with the registered manager. The registered manager notified CQC of key events in the service.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked for people. People and their relatives were now more fully involved as partners in their care. One relative told us they had not previously considered the service was, “Right for [person’s name]”, but since the arrival of senior staff, “[Person's name] care is improving. The new [senior staff] there now is fantastic.” The relative said there was now more focus on their family member who now experienced increased confidence because views of the relative on how to support their family member had been listened to. Another relative said communication with the staff had improved, and they wanted to work with them to further enhance their family member’s care. Staff gave us examples of joint working with people, relatives and other health and social care professionals which had supported people. For example, one staff member told us they had held “Our Voice” meetings with people when they first began to manage the service, so they could obtain people’s views on how they wanted the service to develop further. Another staff member explained how they had advocated for people with multiple health and social care professionals and landlords, so people would receive the care they wanted. Staff had started to develop links with community organisations, for example, voluntary sector organisations, such as local charities. These links were already starting to make a positive impact on people’s well-being. Partners said there was a good communication between staff at the service and their organisations. One health and social care professional told us staff had an open approach when seeking their advice, so any concerns would be resolved promptly. Another health and social care professional told us staff had strengthened some of their processes, so people’s safety was further promoted.

Senior staff encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. The provider’s systems did not always actively contribute to safe, effective practice and analysis. Processes to ensure the registered manage had clear and consistent oversight of all incidents, so that opportunities for taking learning were maximised, did always work well. However, some systems to identify any learning for individual people were working more effectively. The provider had put processes in place to communicate learning from their other services. However, staff understood the importance of considering any lessons learned following incidents and told us where the registered manager had oversight of these they were communicated to staff. A senior staff member explained how they had taken learning from one person experiencing a fall. The senior staff member described how they had reflected on the incident and put measures in place to reduce the likelihood of the person experiencing similar incidents in the future. The registered manager gave us examples showing how they had increased staff training as a result of a concern raised by a person receiving care.