Station Close

Updated 24 November 2021

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in one ‘supported living’ setting and one outreach setting, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We reviewed risk assessments and support plans for people. We spoke to two people’s relatives about the support provided. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection, we spent time with people using the service and spoke to three members of staff including the registered manager. We reviewed documents relating to people’s medicines and health and safety. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and minutes of meetings. We spoke to three further members of staff and another person who used the service. We spoke with one health professional who regularly contacted the service.

Updated 24 November 2021

About the service

Station Close is a supported living service providing personal care and support for people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. Support was provided to two people across two sites in Horsham. One person had their own flat in a supported living setting, the other lived in a bungalow.

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

People were supported safely. Staff were aware of risks to people’s health and well-being. Support plans detailed how to minimise those risks. Staff were recruited safely. Medicines were managed safely and where possible, people were supported to be in control of their medicines. Staff followed infection prevention and control procedures.

People's needs were assessed, and support plans focused on promoting people's independence. Staff received training that was relevant to the people they supported. Staff worked with other agencies to provide consistent and effective care. We saw that people were offered choices about all aspects of their support and how to spend their time.

People's equality and diversity was respected by staff and staff understood the importance of providing the right level of support people at the right time. People were supported to express their views about their support. Staff promoted people's independence.

People's support was personalised, and staff knew people well. Staff were knowledgeable about people's communication needs and communicated with people effectively. People were encouraged and supported by staff to do what they enjoyed such as going to a drama club and going for walks.

People, relatives and staff were positive about the culture and management of the service. Quality assurance processes were in place to provide good governance of the service. Staff worked in partnership with people and those important to them to help them to be as independent as 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 did this practice.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence. People were positive about where they lived and their experience of the support provided. One person told us, “I'm really enjoying living there. I like having my own personal space.” We observed that people were offered choices by staff about what the person wanted to do and how they wanted to spend their time.

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People’s relatives were positive about the level of support provided to people and felt that staff understood people well. One relative told us, “I feel that one staff in particular is able to understand [person] very well, they're [person's] keyworker and can't do enough for [them]” Another told us, “What makes the place special is the attitude of staff, they know when [person] needs more support than normal and are happy to provide it.”

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. Staff were spoke positively about people and about what people had achieved, they spoke proudly about their role in supporting people to be independent. The culture of the service was relaxed and friendly. Relatives were positive about the management of the service, one told us, “They keep me up to date with how [person] is and the communication is really good.”

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

Why we inspected

This service was registered with us on 25 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.

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.