[A] residential service in Frizington, Cumbria that supports people with learning disabilities has been assessed as ‘Outstanding’ in the category of Responsiveness by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England. The Lindisfarne service, which is run by Walsingham Support, was inspected earlier in the year in an unannounced visit by the CQC.
The CQC inspects services against five criteria – whether they are Safe, Caring, Effective, Responsive to Needs and Well-led. The service was deemed ‘Outstanding’ in terms of being Responsive and for all other aspects was rated ‘Good’, meaning an overall rating of ‘Good’.
Walsingham Support aims to assist the people they support to gain the greatest level of independence possible so comments from the CQC such as “… very detailed and creative assessment and care planning had allowed people to achieve more independent living skills.” And “People were supported to have meaningful activities that allowed them to have new and exciting opportunities.” were especially pleasing to receive.
The CQC went on to say “… people had been supported to make considerable achievements. …. the staff had wanted people to have experiences that they had never had before. We saw evidence of how much people had enjoyed the ‘summer ball’ …. Together these things we judged the service to be outstanding in responsive.”
Elaine Coulson, Locality Manager at the service, said: “We are absolutely delighted and extremely proud with the feedback received from the CQC, the overall rating of ‘Good’ and especially the rating of ‘Outstanding’ for Responsiveness. It is pleasing that the hard work of the team here at Lindisfarne has been recognised but most of all that the people we support are given what they need to pursue more varied and fulfilling lives.”
The full CQC report can be accessed via the following link on the CQC website: http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-124120113
