The Oaks and Willows

Updated 7 January 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector visited the office to see records and meet staff. The same inspector visited a supported living house to meet people.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in three supported living settings, comprising of two houses and a flat, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

A comprehensive inspection took place on 26 November 2019 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that staff would be available for us to speak with and to arrange for us to visit people with their permission.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed previous inspection reports and notifications received from the service before the inspection. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We arranged a visit to a supported living house, so we could meet staff and people, we were able to observe staff and people interacting during our visit. We spoke with three people.

We spoke with five members of staff, including the registered manager, support workers and team leaders.

We reviewed a range of records in the office and supported living house. This included two people’s support records, two medication records and one set of daily notes. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and records for all staff training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

After the inspection, we spoke to two relatives by telephone.

Updated 7 January 2020

About the service

The Oaks and Willows provide supported living and personal care to younger adults living with a learning disability. The ethos of the service is to enable people to gain and maintain skills to achieve independent living. Tenants who use the service live in two supported living houses and an adjoining self-contained flat. At the time of our inspection, nine people lived at the Oaks and Willows. The Care Quality Commission inspects the care and support the service provides to younger adults but does not inspect the accommodation they live in. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care, this is help with tasks related to personal hygiene, medicines and eating and at the time of the inspection this applied to four people living at the Oaks and Willows. We also considered any wider social care provided to all people living at the Oaks and Willows.

People lived in supported living houses where four people or less lived or in their own flat adjacent to the supported living houses. The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us that staff supported them and that staff were kind and caring. People's support focused on them having opportunities to gain new skills and become more independent, promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. A relative told us, “He’s very lucky to live there, he’s not held back, he’s living how he wants to live.”

We observed positive, friendly interactions between people and staff. Staff respected people and focussed on increasing their independence and achieving good outcomes. People were treated with dignity and kindness. Staff knew people well, our observations confirmed this. A relative told us, “They know her, and they understand her needs, [Person] is strong willed and they handle that well.”

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

People received personalised care that was tailored to meet their individual needs, preferences and choices. Person centred support plans were detailed and guided staff about people's needs and how to meet them. Staff supported people to make choices and decisions relating to their care and to live their lives as they wished, staff gave support that was led by the person. We observed that people were comfortable in the company of the support workers.

People's risks were identified and assessed appropriately such as accessing the community, money management, meeting strangers and staying safe and road safety. People were supported to take positive risks and staff had an ethos to not let identified risks to restrict people’s lives. People were safe and were supported by staff who were trained to recognise the signs of any potential abuse. Staff had been trained in safeguarding and knew what action to take if they had any concerns about people's safety or welfare.

There were sufficient staff to meet people's needs and the care delivered was flexible to enable them to engage with activities, access the community and to live their lives independently. People were supported by staff whose suitability to work in the care sector was checked. Staff completed training that reflected people’s varied needs and staff were experienced in their roles to provide effective care to people. Staff received regular supervisions and an annual appraisal.

People were asked for their feedback about the service through house meetings, forum meetings, giving feedback to staff and surveys. Staff felt supported by senior staff including management and felt confident that any suggestions or concerns would be listened to and acted upon. A support worker said, “I definitely feel well supported by the manager, seniors and the company. There’s always a senior on call and when we go out with people we have duty mobiles, it’s peace of mind that there’s always help if you need it.”

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 28 June 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.