The inspection took place on 20 and 25 July 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we wanted to speak with people in their own homes and the provider needed to gain people’s consent. The last inspection that was carried out on the 7 February 2017 rated the service as Good overall.

Lifeways Community Care (Walsall) is registered to provide personal care services to people in their own homes or supported living. People the service supports have a range of needs including physical disability and learning disability. 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.

On the day of the inspection there were 88 people receiving support. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

People were supported safely by care staff who knew how to keep people safe and the actions they needed to take where people were at risk of harm. There was enough care staff to support people and the support was given in a timely manner. Care staff had the right protective equipment to reduce the risk of infection while supporting people. People’s medicines were administered as it was prescribed.

Care staff were given the skills, knowledge and support to be able to meet people’s needs. People had choice and control over the support they received from care staff and they decided how they would be supported. People’s consent was sought and the Mental Capacity Act (2005) was adhered to, to ensure people were not restricted unlawfully.

Care staff supported people in a kind and caring manner. People were involved in the assessment and support planning process. Care staff supported people in line with Equality Act (2010). People’s privacy and dignity was being respected.

The provider had a complaints process in place to enable people to share any concerns.

The provider carried out spot checks, monitoring and audits to ensure people received the support they wanted. However, they were not effective in ensuring the environment in which people lived respected their privacy and dignity.

The provider did not ensure that the care records and documentation they used to show how people were being supported was kept consistent in line with their expectations.

People were able to share their views by way of completing a questionnaire, but feedback was not always made available consistently.

The inspection took place on 7 and 16 February 2017 and was unannounced. This was the first rated inspection of this service since it re- registered with us in August 2016 after changing their address and the location name.

Lifeways Community Care Limited (Walsall) is registered to provide personal care services to people in their own homes or supported living. People the service supports have a range of needs including physical disability and learning disability. On the day of the inspection, 82 people were receiving support. There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

Staff told us that they knew how to keep people safe and had the training to do so. People told us they were safe. People were supported with their medicines as it was prescribed.

Care staff received the support they needed so they would have the skills and knowledge required to meet people’s needs how they wanted. The provider adhered to the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) so people’s human rights were not unlawfully restricted. Where people needed support with health care they were able to receive this support from care staff.

Care staff supported people in a kind and caring manner. The provider ensured advocate support was available where this was required. People’s privacy, dignity and independence was respected. People decided how they were supported which care staff respected.

Before people were supported they were involved in an assessment and support planning process which illustrated how they would be supported. People had access to a complaints process so they could raise concerns about the service they received if they had a need to.

We found that spot checks and audits were taking place to ensure the quality of the service people received, however theses checks were not always sufficiently effective in identifying areas for improvement.

People were able to share their views by way of completing a provider questionnaire survey.