Glenmore Trust - Northumberland Street

People’s experience of using this service: The service was exceptional in its person-centred values and managers and staff were absolutely committed to these. The service provided exceptionally personalised support for each person and demonstrated a high level of responsiveness if people’s needs changed.

The service had a strong local community ethos and staff were passionate about social inclusion for everyone in the community. The service worked extremely well with other health and social care service to provide new services for the benefit of anyone who might need safe, emergency support at some stage in their lives. The service provided compassionate and caring support for people at the end of their lives.

People said they received a good service from caring, helpful staff. People had small teams of staff who they were familiar with. Staff knew people’s needs and preferences well. People said the staff were “amazing” and they had good relationships with them.

People were actively assisted by staff to maintain and manage their well-being. Staff made sure that people were treated with dignity and respect and in a way that was free from discrimination.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff received regular training, supervision and appraisal. They worked closely with other health professionals to promote people’s health and were good advocates of people’s wellbeing.

The provider was proactive in working with other professionals and stakeholders. The provider was a member of many local forums to share information and examples of good practice. They helped to develop new services for the benefit of the local community.

The service was safe and any risks were well-managed. There were enough staff to support everyone with their agreed care package.

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

Rating at last inspection: Good (published September 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

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

The Glenmore Trust- Northumberland Street provides support for people with a learning disability or mental health issues in their own homes. They cover the Carlisle area, Penrith and Eden. Their main offices are located on Northumberland Street in Carlisle.

The service had a registered manager. 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 sufficient appropriately recruited staff available to support people. They were trained to an appropriate standard and received regular supervision and appraisal. As part of their recruitment process the service carried out background checks on new staff.

Staff were aware of how to identify and report abuse. There were policies in place that outlined what to do if staff had concerns about the practice of a colleague or any other person who came into contact with people who used the service.

The service took into account people’s levels of capacity when supporting them to make a decision. They noted who had legal powers to help make decisions in people’s best interests and had recently made improvements in the way it gathered and held this information.

People were encouraged to eat healthily and had their nutrition and hydration support needs regularly assessed.

The service was commissioned to provide support to some people with their medicines. Where this was the case we saw that medicines were managed appropriately.

Staff knew how to treat people with dignity and respect and were aware how to act appropriately in people’s homes.

Support plans were based on thorough assessments which were subject to review. The service had started to keep both a written record of care and an electronic record.

There was a robust quality assurance system in place at the service that was undergoing further development.

The relatives and people we spoke with told us they were 'extremely happy" and ' very satisfied' with the support provided and said the service provided was 'excellent'. One person we spoke with said, 'The staff keep me informed about how my relative is doing'. All of the comments made by people we spoke with were very positive about the staff and care they received.

The agency office was situated near the city centre of Carlisle. The agency office was accessible from the main street.

If required meetings could be held on the ground floor of the building for any people who may have mobility difficulties. The offices were of a reasonable size and provided sufficient space for staff to work in.

We looked at the satisfaction survey completed by people who used the service in 2012 and the recommendations identified by the provider. Overall most people were very happy with the service provided. We found that 95% of people said they were happy with the staff supporting them and 99% felt they had a person centred plan of care.

We reviewed the complaints records and none had been made since our last visit. People we spoke to told us they had no complaints about the service but would be happy to raise their concerns directly with the staff, managers or registered manager. One person told us, "I would just tell the manager if something was wrong".

"They look after me very well."

"Talk to me smashing."

"Very nice, very respectful."

We found that people were supported in making choices and their choices were respected. We observed that people were treated in a warm and friendly manner and that the Glenmore Trust acted in a way that kept people safe and free from abuse.

We saw that the Glenmore Trust had appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene and acted quickly to rectify problems. Staff recruitment was done in a robust and professional way and the Glenmore Trust had effective systems in place for measuring the quality of their service.