17 December 2015
During a routine inspection
We inspected the service on 17 December 2014 and also made some visits to people in their own homes after this date. The inspection was announced. The service was registered in December 2013 after it moved from another location. This was the first inspection of the new location. Our findings from this inspection confirmed that the provider was not in breach of any regulations.
The service provides care and support to people living in their own flats or shared accommodation within supported living schemes. It specialises in providing care to people who have a learning disability. We were informed that 44 people were receiving support from the service.
People and their relatives told us they felt safe and that staff supported them to keep safe in their own homes and out in the community. Suitable arrangements were in place to ensure people who used the service provided were safeguarded against the risk of abuse. The relatives of people told us they had found the management team approachable and told us they would raise any complaints or concerns should they need to.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) sets out what must be done to make sure that the human rights of people who may lack mental capacity to make decisions are protected, including when balancing autonomy and protection in relation to consent or refusal of care. The MCA Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) requires providers to submit applications to a ‘Supervisory Body’ for authority to deprive someone of their liberty. People were involved in deciding how their care was provided and their movements were not restricted unnecessarily because the service supported people in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice.
Recruitment and selection procedures were in place and appropriate checks had been undertaken before staff began work for the service. Care staff were appropriately trained and they demonstrated a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities.
People and their relatives described the staff as being kind and caring and our observations of support being provided confirmed this. We saw that interactions between staff and the people who used the service were positive in that staff were kind, polite and helpful to people.
People’s health and social care needs were assessed to ensure that the support from the service was suitable for them and could meet their needs. People were involved in the assessment process and development of their care plan which were centred on the individual. This provided staff with guidance on how the person wanted to be supported.
People were able to plan their own meals and staff supported people to go shopping and prepare meals. Staff supported people to make healthcare appointments and liaised with their GP and other healthcare professionals as required to meet people’s needs.
There was a registered manager at this location. 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.
Staff told us that the management team were very approachable and always willing to listen to their concerns or how the quality of people’s care could be improved. We found that the provider had a system in place to monitor accidents and incidents across all of the provider’s services. The registered manager was unable to demonstrate that a system was in place to monitor accidents and incidents specific to this service. This meant that there were no opportunities to identify any trends or patterns which could affect the quality of the service being provided by the service.