Northumbria Supported Living is an independent supported living service and is regulated to provide personal care and support to people living in their own homes or as tenants at Bradbury Court. Bradbury Court is a development of nine fully accessible one-bedroom studio flats in Ponteland, Northumberland. The properties are owned and managed by Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Northumbria Supported Living is not regulated to provide accommodation which meant we did not inspect the premises at Bradbury Court. They support people of all ages with differing needs including older people, people with physical disabilities and specialist needs such as acquired brain injury and spinal injuries. The service is registered to support 10 people. At the time of inspection there were seven people using the service. This service provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so that they can live in their own home 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.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The service, led by a registered manager who had been in the role for just over a year, had successfully improved following concerns after the last inspection that people’s needs were not being fully met. We found there had been significant improvements in the service and a cultural shift from allowing people to become too dependent on staff, to a service that supported and celebrated people’s ability to improve their independent living skills.

People who used the service and their relatives were extremely complimentary about how staff cared for them and supported them to live their lives as they wanted. People were treated with dignity and respect for the things that made them unique, such as their love of particular sports or their sense of humour.

People’s healthcare needs were well met by a dedicated staff team who knew them well and were themselves well supported in terms of training and supervision.

There were no concerns regarding the safety of the service and senior staff had worked proactively to improve processes such as medicines and finance management. Risk assessments were detailed and person-centred.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

The registered manager had successfully improved the culture and attitude of the staff team, who were working together consistently towards a range of independent living goals for people who used the service. The registered manager had plans in place to build on this foundation of staff continuity and a shared focus. We were assured that managerial oversight was strong and all people who used the service and staff we spoke with confirmed the registered manager was supportive and always approachable.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

The inspection took place on 4 and 5 February 2016 and was announced. The service provided support to people in their own homes. Because staff and people were often out in the local community, we gave the provider 48 hours’ notice to make sure that staff would be available at the office.

We last inspected the service in November 2013 where we found that they were meeting all the regulations we inspected.

There was a new manager in post. She had applied to become a registered manager with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. Since the inspection took place, the manager has now been registered with the CQC.

Northumbria Supported Living is an independent supported living service and is regulated to provide personal care and support to people living in their own homes or as tenants at Bradbury Court. Bradbury Court is a development of nine fully accessible one bedroom studio flats in the centre of Ponteland, Northumberland. The properties are owned and managed by Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Northumbria Supported Living is not regulated to provide accommodation which meant we did not inspect the premises at Bradbury Court. They support people of all ages with differing needs including older people, people with physical disabilities and specialist needs such as acquired brain injury and spinal injuries.

The service supported 10 people. There were nine people living at Bradbury Court and one person lived in the local community and was supported by their own team of staff.

People told us that they felt safe. There were safeguarding policies and procedures in place. Staff were knowledgeable about what action they would take if abuse was suspected. There were no ongoing safeguarding concerns. This was confirmed by the local authority’s safeguarding adults team.

We found some concerns with the storage and recording of medicines. We have made a recommendation that staff follow best practice guidelines regarding medicines management.

Although we did not inspect the premises at Bradbury Court, we noticed that the building appeared very clean and well maintained whilst we were walking around speaking to people in their flats. We observed however, that some of the bed rails which were fixed to some beds to reduce the risk of falls; did not fully meet the Health and Safety Executive’s guidelines to prevent injuries or entrapment. The beds and bed rails were not provided by Leonard Cheshire Disability, however, the manager immediately requested an occupational therapist [OT] assessment to ensure the bed rails were safe and suitable.

People, relatives and staff told us there were enough staff to meet people’s needs. On the day of the inspection, we saw that people’s needs were met by the number of staff on the day of the inspection. There was a training programme in place. Staff were trained in safe working practices and to meet the specific needs of people who lived at the service.

People were supported to receive a suitable nutritious diet. People, relatives and health care professionals spoke positively about the caring nature of staff. We observed that people were cared for by staff with kindness and patience.

People and relatives were complimentary about the responsiveness of staff. One relative told us that staff went, “above and beyond” to meet their family member's needs. Staff enabled people to live as full a life as possible. A creative activities programme was in place to help meet people’s social needs.

People were actively encouraged to give their views and raise concerns or complaints. There was a complaints procedure in place and people knew how to complain. Effective feedback systems were in place to ob

Twelve people received personal care and support from Northumbria Supported Living Service at the time of our inspection. We spoke with five of them about their experiences of the care and support they received from this service.

Relationships between staff and people were clearly good. People told us that staff respected their privacy and dignity. They said staff were kind and helpful. We heard staff respond appropriately to people during this inspection.

People we spoke to were positive about the care and support they received. Comments included, “I am really satisfied with the support I receive. The service to me could not be better.” “It’s the best place I have ever lived. I used to live in residential care. I like it much better here because they respect your privacy and don’t come in if I don’t want them to.” The staff are great.” People received individual care and support that was organised to suit their needs.

People said they felt protected by the service's procedures and practices.

We did not speak with people who were using the service about staff support or training. Staff had appropriate training opportunities provided. We found that people were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment safely.

People told us they could talk to staff if they were worried about anything, or if they had any complaints. The service had policies and procedures in place for dealing with complaints that people understood.

People told us they were happy with the service they received from Northumbria Supported Living Service and their care needs were met. One person said, "It's brilliant." Another person told us, "The girls are wonderful and the service I get is ok." A relative of a person in receipt of care commented, "The care is pretty much outstanding."

People told us their consent was obtained before care was delivered and staff acted in accordance with their wishes. Where people did not have the capacity to consent we found the provider acted in accordance with legal requirements.

We found that people's care needs were assessed and their care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plans. Where necessary, external healthcare professionals had been consulted about people's care.

We saw that there were effective systems in place to manage infection control appropriately. Staff were aware of their responsibilities and followed appropriate guidance.

We found there were sufficient numbers of staff in post, who were suitably skilled, qualified and experienced to deliver care and support safely.

The service had effective measures in place to monitor the service they provided.