FitzRoy Supported Living Suffolk

FitzRoy Supported Living Suffolk is a service providing care to people in several supported living settings and to people in their own homes. The service is registered to provide care to autistic people and people with a learning disability. 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. There were 15 people receiving personal care across 5 different supported living settings at the time of the inspection.

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.

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

Right Support:

Staff supported people to maximise their independence. People were supported by staff to access their community, shop, prepare food and maintain housekeeping. In some cases, this reduced the level of support they required from staff. People were encouraged to make their own choices. Best interest decisions were made and, involved others such as relatives and professionals but this needed further development. People’s risks in relation to their care was managed, as appropriate. Healthcare professionals such as speech and language therapists and occupational therapists had been consulted. There were enough staff to keep people safe, but not all people were supported by permanent staff who knew them well. The high use of agency staff over an extended time had impacted upon people and staff morale. We were assured that the service was following good infection prevention and control (IPC) procedures to keep people safe.

Right Care:

People and their relatives told us they felt supported by staff in a kind, caring and dignified way. People’s differences were respected by staff and they had undertaken relevant training to effectively support people. Some people’s relatives told us that the care and support needed to be more consistent and provided by staff that knew them well. People’s right to privacy was respected and staff encouraged people to regularly provide feedback about the care provided. Care plans were personalised and included information on people’s healthcare needs, preferences, challenges and hobbies. Some services were located in residential streets, others being quite rural and there were no outward signs to differentiate them from neighbouring properties. The properties were well maintained and reflected choices people made.

People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. The local authority were supporting further development in this area; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Culture:

The culture of the service was open, inclusive and empowered people to live independent lives. Some improvements were required regarding the oversight of the service; these were fed back and positively embraced. Management needed to develop effective audits to look at ways of improving the service and identify issues where learning is then embedded. The staffing crisis must be resolved by the provider as in some cases agency staff have been used for over 2 years. People and their relatives felt their ideas and concerns would be listened to by management. People told us they felt that staff had helped them become more confident and independent. Staff were complimentary about the provider and training offered. Not all staff felt valued. They told us they were able to raise concerns with managers, but resolutions were not always forthcoming or communicated.

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

Rating at last inspection

This last report was good and was published on 29 February 2020.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection based upon information received from our system partners.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

FitzRoy Supported Living Suffolk is a domiciliary care service which offers personal care and assistance to support people living in supported accommodation. The service supports people over five houses in the community and at the time of our inspection there were 23 people using the service.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and good 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 difficulties and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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.

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

Potential risks to people had been assessed, recorded and managed appropriately by the registered manager and staff of the service. People were safeguarded from potential harm and their freedom to live the life they chose was protected by knowledgeable staff. People received their medicines safely and as prescribed and people were supported by sufficient numbers of staff to meet their assessed needs and goals.

Staff continued to be recruited as per the service policy and procedures and had received relevant training for their role. Staff received supervision and a yearly appraisal to help them to develop their careers and provide the support people required.

People’s consent was sought before staff provided care and support to them. 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.

People were treated with understanding, kindness and compassion. People’s rights to privacy were respected by the staff who supported them to maintain their dignity. People were assisted to express their views and encouraged to be actively involved in making decisions about their care and support needs. The service worked closely with relatives and professionals to agree the support the people using FitzRoy required. There were effective auditing systems in place to monitor the quality of service provision. The views of people using the service were gathered and used to drive service development.

Each person had a care plan based upon an assessment of their needs which was regularly reviewed. Care plans included personal details about choices for food and how the individual wished to live and be supported. People using the service knew about the complaints process and were confident about approaching the registered manager and senor staff if they needed to do so.

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 for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

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 4 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.

At the last inspection on 14 October 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

This service remains rated as Good because people remained safe. Care and support was planned and delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people's safety and welfare. People were cared for safely by staff that had been recruited and employed after appropriate checks had been completed. People's needs were met by sufficient numbers of staff. Medication was safely managed and dispensed by staff who had received training to do so.

People told us that they experienced a service that met their needs consistently. Staff were caring and supportive. People were provided with an individualised service that respected their privacy and dignity and promoted their independence. People were supported to follow their own interests and hobbies and access their community regularly with the appropriate levels of staff support. Care planning was individualised and peoples choices and decisions were sought, supported and respected. This meant that people could choose their own lifestyle and lead a fulfilling life within their community.

People had a quality service that was regularly monitored. Any concerns or complaints were listened to and acted upon. The values and vision of the organisation were known and everyone was involved in the development of the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below