Archived: Nugent Community Choices (Sefton)

Updated 18 July 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on the 19 and 20 June 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the location provides a small supported living service and staff are often out during the day at the supported living locations. We needed to be sure that they would be in. It was carried out by an Adult Social Care Inspector.

Before the inspection we contacted three council contracts departments. They told us that they had no concerns about the service. We looked at all of the information that CQC had received about, and from, the service since the last inspection. This included notifications about issues that had happened in the service. We also received from the service a Provider Information Record (PIR).

During the inspection we visited the office and on day two visited one of the supported living homes, where we looked at all parts of the premises. We spoke with two acting managers, the head of residential services, a senior support worker and three support workers. We met with three people in their supported living home, and we spoke with four relatives on the telephone. We observed staff interacting with people in their homes. We looked at staff rotas and training records. We looked at health and safety records and other risk assessment records. We looked at the care and support records for the three people who we visited at home.

Updated 18 July 2018

Nugent Community Choices (Sefton) is part of Nugent Care organisation and is registered to provide personal care for twelve people who require support and care with their daily lives. There are four supported living homes where staff support people 24 hours a day.

At the last inspection the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The service did not have a registered manager as they had left the service on the 25 May 2018. There were two acting managers in post who we spent time with discussing the service provision.

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 been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. We saw that people with learning disabilities and autism who used the service were able to live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

We spoke with three of the twelve people who were receiving care and support and four relatives who all gave positive feedback about the service and the staff who worked in it. We saw that people were supported by a willing staff team who were encouraging, supportive and respectful.

People were encouraged and participated in various daily activities of their choice. Care plans were person centred and driven by the people who were being supported in their own homes. They detailed how people wished and needed to be cared for. They were regularly reviewed and updated as required.

Staff spoken with and records seen confirmed training had been provided to enable them to support the people with their specific needs. We found staff were knowledgeable about the support needs of people in their care. We observed staff providing support to people throughout the second day of our inspection visit when we went to one of the supported living homes. We saw they had positive relationships with the people being supported. There was a happy, warm atmosphere in their home. We saw that people communicated in specific ways and the staff were confident and competent at successfully communicating in the person’s preferred method of communication.

The acting manager understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). This meant they were working within the law to support people who may lack capacity to make their own decisions. We saw that people were supported to make their own decisions and their choices were respected and at all times the least restrictive option was taken. Assistive technology was in place to maximise people’s independence and ensure that their privacy and dignity was respected.

The acting managers used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included regular audits of the service and staff meetings to seek the views of staff about the service. The acting managers worked closely to support staff and people in the four supported living homes and provide quality support to staff to enable them to provide proactive, individualised care and support.