The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected housing with care in October and November 2020. Due to Covid-19 and the restrictions in place, the CQC did not do a comprehensive inspection and instead, they completed a focused inspection to review the key areas of safe and well-led only.
Whilst the overall rating of requires improvement has remained the same, our rating for safe has improved to good. This now means we are rated good in both safe and responsive.
This demonstrates that the service is moving in the right direction, whilst recognising the need to continue embedding and sustaining the improvements we have been making across all 14 schemes.
Housing with care has an improvement plan that is regularly reviewed and updated; as part of this, we have incorporated actions to address issues that have been highlighted in the most recent CQC report.
We remain focused and committed to improving the quality of the service and to delivering excellent and compassionate care in all housing with care schemes across the borough.
We will continue to work with service users, relatives, staff, stakeholders and the CQC to ensure the best service is provided.
Find out more about the action we are taking to improve the service
Housing with care improvement priorities
The main priorities for the service are:
checking the consistency of all service user documents and ensuring health-related support needs are accurately recorded
checking the quality of all service user documents and making sure all care plans are co-produced with service users, relatives, friends and colleagues from health and social care services, and written in a person-centred way
embedding the new quality assurance framework to make sure the service has systems in place to identify and address any issues quickly and effectively. This includes ensuring that the CQC are notified of incidents without delay
we are in the process of recruiting permanent staff to ensure that we are able to provide consistent care and support to service users
continuing to support staff through training and supervision to apply new skills and best practice to the delivery of care for service users
engaging with service users, relatives and friends through regular forums and other methods of communication, and continuing our co-production groups with service users, relatives and staff. In particular, we want to ensure that service users, relatives and friends have channels to provide feedback
exploring better digital systems for managing service user files
What is housing with care?
Housing with care (HwC) is designed for people aged 55 plus, who have both housing and care and support needs. Service users are supported for a few hours each week, day, overnight or with an onsite staff presence 24 hours a day in accordance with their assessed needs.
This type of accommodation enables residents to maintain a greater level of independence within the community. In some local authorities, HwC may be known as ‘extra care’.
There are currently 16 housing with care schemes in the borough. We aim to provide a comfortable home with the help needed to live as independently as possible.
We have some schemes that cater for people with specialist needs, eg people with learning disabilities or dementia.
What are the benefits of housing with care for residents?
There are many advantages for residents choosing housing with care. These include:
self-contained flats each having its own bathroom, living space, bedroom and kitchenette. Some schemes have accommodation available for couples
all schemes benefit from communal gardens and indoor areas
residents have the option to socialise in the communal areas with other residents and join in with coordinated activities
residents will have an assured tenancy or an assured shorthold tenancy. This means they have certain rights under housing law as a tenant
residents can enjoy having friends and family visit within the comfort of their own home
the schemes provide a safe, supportive environment that promotes independent living
What care is available?
Care and support is delivered on an individual basis in accordance with respective care plans.
Ten schemes have care staff on site 24 hours a day to provide additional care, support or assistance whilst 4 are non 24-hour schemes, with an on-site staff presence between approximately 7.30am to 9pm, dependant on the service user needs.
Housing with care workers will support service users in need of assistance with daily activities. For example, they can help with:
personal care
meal preparation
medication
laundry
shopping
Because we aim to help service users to remain as independent as possible, we’ll give residents time to do what they can for themselves and support them with the things they want us to or can’t manage.
Housing support
Housing support workers are on site during weekdays offering support with:
tenancy related matters
accessing services such as arranging repairs, claiming benefits, dealing with security or neighbour problems
finding out about local activities and other services
How much does it cost?
There are 4 main charges that you will be responsible for paying. These are:
rent charge
service charges
supporting people charge
care charge
Rent
The rent is charged by the housing association who will be your landlord.
If a tenant is eligible for housing benefit then this is used to pay the rent element of your charges.
The scheme’s housing support team will help transfer your housing benefit payments or make a new claim if you have not claimed before.
If the tenant isn’t eligible for housing benefit, the rent must be paid in full by you.
Service charge
The service charge is set by the housing association / landlord and is paid by you to the landlord (please note that housing benefit does not always cover the service charge element of the charges).
It includes the cost of lighting, water, gas and some maintenance of the building.
This charge varies in each supported housing scheme and it is based on a yearly cost, payable weekly with the rent charge.
Care charge
It is likely that a tenant may be charged for the care element of their housing with care, based on their financial circumstances.
To be eligible for housing with care applicants should:
be aged 55 years or over (unless applying for a scheme with a lower age limit due to the service provided)
be Hackney residents
have eligible care and support needs under the Care Act
Full eligibility criteria for housing with care
Decisions regarding eligibility for housing with care will be based on three care banding levels:
low
medium
high
All referrals:
will be ordinarily resident in Hackney
will have eligible care and support needs under the Care Act
Low
People in this band:
are socially isolated and would benefit from living in a scheme where there is the opportunity for communal engagement
have a health condition / age-related infirmity with clear indications that support needs will increase over time
will benefit from monitoring and social contact which provides security and reassurance
need prompting / supervision or some assistance with personal care needs including shopping / meal preparation / prompting with medication
Hours of care will not be the deciding factor but, as a guide, people falling into this category are likely to require up to 7 hours per week of planned care.
Medium
People in this band:
are socially isolated and would benefit from living in a scheme where there is the opportunity for communal engagement
will benefit from monitoring and social contact which provides security and reassurance
may experience episodes of anxiety or distress that responds to reassurance.
need supervision / assistance with personal care / shopping/meal preparation / prompting with medication / domestic tasks
may have moderate cognitive impairment that requires supervision and monitoring.
Hours of care will not be the deciding factor but, as a guide, people falling into this category are likely to require between 7 -14 hours per week of planned care.
High
People in this band will:
are socially isolated and would benefit from living in a scheme where there is the facility for communal engagement
require a significant level of assistance with personal care and shopping, meal preparation, medication and domestic tasks
may require the support of 2 staff for transfers/personal care
may require support with eating/drinking
may have a cognitive impairment that requires supervision or prompting/assistance and monitoring
Hours of care will not be the deciding factor but, as a guide, people with high needs are likely to require between 14.5-21 hours per week of planned care
Note: Any referrals to only address a housing need are not appropriate and consideration should instead be given to an application for housing under the choice based letting system.
Who wouldn’t be eligible for housing with care?
people who are not ordinarily resident Hackney
people whose health needs cannot be met by community health services
Housing with care referral process
If you already have a social worker you can discuss applying for a place with them.
If you don’t have a social worker, please contact the information and assessment team to request a community care needs assessment.
The interim care service is for adults aged 45 plus who need short term targeted intervention (up to 12 weeks) to gain or re-gain the skills needed to live independently with little or no intervention from local services except targeted preventative services (TPS) or universal services.
7 flats are available within the housing with care scheme at Leander Court for interim care along with 1 flat that is an emergency / place of safety provision.
As such this flat is only to be used in emergency situations, whilst arrangements are made for ongoing care / support, and it is intended that the maximum length of stay will be 72 hours.
All flats are self-contained with a bedroom, living room, kitchen and shower.
Eligibility criteria
Individuals entering interim care will be in the following circumstances:
waiting for a permanent housing solution following discharge from hospital
need an enabling intervention to regain skills prior to returning home
for the place of safety flat they will need accommodation and care for a maximum period of 72 hours with the intention that this time is used to make alternative arrangements
Interim care referral process
Referrals to this service are only accepted from social work teams.
