Archived: Affinity Trust - Domiciliary Care Agency - Tameside

Affinity Trust Tameside is a Domiciliary care and supported housing service providing personal care to 32 adults with learning disabilities and other complex needs at the time of the inspection. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People using the service received planned and co-ordinated person-centred support which was appropriate and inclusive for them.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Overall people and relatives felt the service was safe, staff were safely recruited and there were processes in place to ensure the environment was safe for the people living there. People were safely supported with their medicine and work was ongoing to reduce the use of prescribed medicine to control behaviours which might challenge others. When things went wrong, action was taken to learn from this, share the learning and prevent future risk where possible.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. The service used some restrictive intervention practices as a last resort, in a person-centred way, in line with positive behaviour support principles. Staff told us they had received all the relevant training and understood people’s needs and preferences. People were supported to access health care services as needed and any guidance was incorporated into plans of care.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible to gain new skills and become more independent. Care plans identified peoples wishes and aspirations and how these could be met by staff. Complaints were being investigated and the service worked closely with those involved to resolve any complaints.

The service had a clear management structure and systems for oversight and a commitment to drive ongoing learning and improvement. People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the management overall and felt involved in service development.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 01 August 2017)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

This was the first inspection since the service was registered with the Care Quality Commission in June 2015. Affinity Trust is a national charity providing support for people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum conditions, physical disabilities and other associated needs. 29 people used the service at the time of our inspection. People either lived on their own or with other people.

The registered manager of the service had recently left their employment with Affinity Trust, but at the time of this inspection was still registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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. The service had a recently recruited a new operations manager who had applied to become the new registered manager of the service.

Procedures were in place to minimise the risk of harm to people. Support workers were trained and were aware of how to report any issues of concern regarding people’s safety and welfare. People received their medicines safely and as prescribed by their doctor. Staff were recruited following a safe and robust process to make sure only suitable people were employed to work with vulnerable people.

Risk assessments had been developed in line with each part of the person’s support plan. These risk assessments gave support workers clear directions in what action to take in order to minimise any risk identified, especially when supporting a person to maintain their safety, and that of others, when out in the community.

People’s health needs were closely monitored and each person had a health action plan document in place.

Staffing levels were planned to incorporate supporting people to participate in their chosen activities, either in-house or in the local community.

People using the service had been provided with a complaints procedure which was also in a format suitable to support people with a learning disability to understand how the complaints procedure/process worked.