Agency profile · CQC 1-2279487888

Liberty Support - Midlands

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Provider

Liberty Support Services Limited

Wolverhampton · West Midlands · Active since 05/1

Not RatedHome-care

Overall rating

Not Rated

safeNot Rated

effectiveNot Rated

caringNot Rated

responsiveNot Rated

well-ledNot Rated

Last inspection

11 months ago

11/Jun/2025 - 00:00

Inspected 11 months ago

Overview Inspections (6)Findings (24)Owner-management Methodology

Inspection reports (6)

Single Assessment Framework · 2025-06-11
Framework: SAF · 6 pages · PDF
Date of Assessment: 13 April 2025 to 8 May 2025. This assessment was completed to identify if the required improvements had been made following a previous inspection. The supported living and domiciliary care service provides personal care to adults and children of all ages living with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, dementia, mental health conditions and Learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. The provider delivered safe care and treatment to the people they supported. People had risks identified and plans put in place to reduce these. The provider had safe recruitment practices and ensured staff had an induction and training for their role. People received support with their medicines and staff followed infection prevention procedures. People were safeguarded from abuse. People had their individual needs assessed and care plans were in place which were reviewed regularly. The principles of the Mental Capacity Act were understood, and staff ensured people were supported to make choices and decisions. Staff were kind and caring and understood people’s individual preferences. People were supported to access their family, follow their interests and access the community. There was a vision in place to provide person-centered care and leaders had developed systems which supported this. There were governance arrangements in place which monitored the quality of the service and systems were in place to learn and improve. The provider worked in partnership with other agencies to provide people their care and support.
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Date of Assessment: 13 April 2025 to 8 May 2025. This assessment was completed to identify if the required improvements had been made following a previous inspection. The supported living and domiciliary care service provides personal care to adults and children of all ages living with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, dementia, mental health conditions and Learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. The provider delivered safe care and treatment to the people they supported. People had risks identified and plans put in place to reduce these. The provider had safe recruitment practices and ensured staff had an induction and training for their role. People received support with their medicines and staff followed infection prevention procedures. People were safeguarded from abuse. People had their individual needs assessed and care plans were in place which were reviewed regularly. The principles of the Mental Capacity Act were understood, and staff ensured people were supported to make choices and decisions. Staff were kind and caring and understood people’s individual preferences. People were supported to access their family, follow their interests and access the community. There was a vision in place to provide person-centred care and leaders had developed systems which supported this. There were governance arrangements in place which monitored the quality of the service and systems were in place to learn and improve. The provider worked in partnership with other agencies to provide people their care and support.

Inspection report · 2023-12-08

Framework: KLOE · 14 pages · 86 KB · PDF

Requires improvement

safe: Requires improvementeffective: Requires improvementwell-led: Requires improvement

Liberty Support - Midlands was rated Requires Improvement overall following a focused inspection in March–April 2022, with breaches of Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (good governance) identified. Key failures included inadequate infection control practices, inconsistent staff training, inaccurate medication records, and a lack of robust governance systems, compounded by the absence of a registered manager.

Concerns (9)

criticalInfection control: “We saw some staff were not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) correctly. For example, we saw a number of staff wearing face masks incorrectly.”
criticalGovernance: “Due to poor governance of the service people were placed at risk of harm. This was a breach of regulation 17 (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.”
moderateMedication management: “We saw evidence that medication was not always recorded correctly on Medical Administration Record (MAR) charts.”
moderateStaff training: “A few staff however had not received updated training to ensure their knowledge was up to date. The training was lacking somehow, the service had promised to train us.”
moderateCare planning: “Care records did not always contain clear or up to date information for staff on how to support people's needs.”
moderateSupervision / appraisal: “Systems in place to monitor staff performance had not identified that spot checks were carried out consistently.”
moderatePerson-centred care: “Systems were not in place to ensure people using the service, or their relatives had the opportunity to give feedback on their views of the service they received.”
moderateLeadership: “The service is required under the conditions of their registration to have a registered manager. At the time of the inspection there was no registered manager in position.”
minorRecord keeping: “Body maps were not in place to guide staff where to apply prescribed cream or gels to people. Information where to apply the cream or gel was not in the care plan.”

Strengths

· Staff confirmed they had received safeguarding training and understood how to keep people safe.
· Staff had been recruited safely with pre-employment checks including DBS checks carried out.
· People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.
· Staff worked in partnership with other healthcare professionals such as district nurses and the psychiatric team.
· People spoke positively about the recent changes in the management team; new appointments inspired confidence.

Quality-Statement breakdown (15)

safe: Preventing and controlling infectionRequires improvement
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseRequires improvement
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementRequires improvement
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyRequires improvement
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawRequires improvement
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experience

Inspection report · 2022-09-28

Framework: KLOE · 13 pages · 87 KB · PDF

Requires improvement

safe: Requires improvementeffective: Requires improvementwell-led: Requires improvement

Liberty Support - Midlands remained Requires Improvement overall, with safe, effective and well-led each rated Requires Improvement, though the provider was no longer in breach of regulations 12 and 17. Improvements had been made in infection control and governance, but ongoing concerns persisted around medication auditing, specialist staff training, care plan quality, MCA documentation and embedding governance systems.

Concerns (14)

moderateMedication management: “Systems for auditing people's medications were not always clear and robust. Daily counts of medications were on separate sheets, meaning that discrepancies may not have been easy to identify.”
moderateMedication management: “these protocols did not always contain the relevant information to support the staff in determining if the use of a medication was appropriate.”
moderateStaff training: “Training was not in place for learning disabilities, in line with the legal requirement introduced in the Health and Care Act 2022 on 01 July 2022.”
moderateStaff training: “Training records showed that several staff had not completed specialist training relevant to the people they were supporting; for example, diabetes or epilepsy training.”
moderateStaffing levels: “several services were reliant on agency staff to meet people's needs.”
moderateStaffing levels: “Some relatives told us that staff shortages meant their loved ones did not always get to engage in as many community activities as they would like.”
moderateCare planning: “care plans did not always contain important information about people's needs or preferences. For example, one person's preference about the gender of staff was not documented.”
moderateCare planning: “there was a significant disparity in the quality and detail of these documents [PBS plans].”
moderateConsent / capacity: “Records did not always detail how the MCA or best interests' decisions were incorporated into the service.”
moderateGovernance: “Systems in place had not always identified the issues highlighted by the inspection, such as the concerns regarding medication governance, or the lack of specialist training for learning disabilities.”
moderateRecord keeping: “there was a mixture of electronic and paper records, and systems differed across the supported living services.”
moderateLeadership: “feedback from local partner agencies identified that whilst improvements were being made, the pace of change wasn't always swift.”
minorCommunication with families: “some family members found communication with the service was not always easy and there was a lack of clarity about who they should contact for information.”
minorIncident learning: “There were plans in place for the positive behaviour support (PBS) coordinator to review incidents to identify any trends or learning. However, this wasn't always possible whilst the service was awaiting new members of the management team”

Strengths

· People felt safe and staff knew people well
· Person-centred care planning considering religion, culture and sexuality
· Improved infection control measures with appropriate PPE use and lateral flow testing
· Safe recruitment with DBS checks completed
· Staff supported people to access healthcare services and maintain healthy diets

Quality-Statement breakdown (14)

safe: Using medicines safelyRequires improvement
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseNot rated
safe: Staffing and recruitmentNot rated
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionNot rated
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementNot rated
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongNot rated
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceRequires improvement
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the law