Nottingham Supported Living (DCA)

Inspection team Two inspectors carried out the inspection and an Expert by Experience made telephone calls to relatives to seek their feedback on care provided to people using the service. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type This service provides care and support to people living in 11 'supported living' settings so 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.

Registered Manager This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because it is an office based service and we needed to be sure the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection Before our inspection, we reviewed our information we held about the service. This included information received from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We looked at statutory notifications. A statutory notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law, such as allegations of abuse and serious injuries. We reviewed the last inspection report.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with four people who used the service and nine relatives of people who used the service. We spoke with the registered manager, operations manager and we received feedback from eight support staff. We also received feedback from external health and social care professionals.

We reviewed a range of records, this included in part, seven people's care records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment, and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including incident records and analysis, meeting records, staff rota's, complaints and the provider's quality assurance feedback.

After the inspection We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included but was not limited to the provider's current action plan, training data, policies and procedures.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found