Archived: Jasmine

Jasmine provides personal care support to adults who have a learning disability, or a mental health condition.

The home was a domestic style property. It was registered for the support of up to six people. Although five people were living in the home only one person was in receipt of regulated activity with regards to being supported with their personal care.

The building was situated in residential area. There were deliberately no identifying signs, intercom, cameras, industrial bins or anything else outside to indicate it was a care home. Staff did not wear anything that suggested they were care staff when coming and going with people.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best 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 disabilities 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.

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

People’s outcomes were exceptional. People were encouraged on a daily basis to build their level of independence and were supported to move through the service if appropriate, enabling them to live independent lives. This meant people were supported to manage and embed daily living skills.

Jasmine was very homely, and people were at the heart of decisions which were made to improve the environment of the service. Staff encouraged people to feel they had the autonomy to make decisions for themselves, which included how and where they wanted to spend their time.

People’s risks were monitored, and robust plans were in place to ensure they could be as independent as possible and take positive risks. People were encouraged to feel part of the wider community and could choose when to go out with the support of staff where needed.

People were encouraged by dedicated staff who supported them to be in control of planning of their own care. People were highly valued as individuals and their opinions were respected. People were able to drive their own care plan and were empowered to state how they liked their care to be delivered, including their preferences, which staff truly respected.

People’s health needs were effectively monitored, and people were supported or encouraged to attend routine appointments to ensure their health needs met. People were supported by an inclusive team around them whereby staff and other external professionals played an integral part in their lives.

People were encouraged and supported to take part in sociable events. Jasmine had a positive culture and staff demonstrated respect and understanding of working in people’s home environment.

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.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensured people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

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 07 March 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.

The service is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to six people. People who use the service have a learning disability and or a mental health condition. At the time of our inspection six people were using the service.

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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff understood how to keep people safe and people were involved in the assessment and management of risks to their health, safety and wellbeing. People’s medicines were managed safely.

People were protected from the risk of abuse because staff knew how to recognise and report potential abuse. Safe staffing levels were maintained to promote people’s safety and to ensure people participated in activities of their choosing.

People could eat meals that met their individual preferences. People’s health and wellbeing needs were monitored and people were supported to access health and social care professionals as required.

Staff supported people to make decisions about their care and when people were unable to make these decisions for themselves, the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were followed. At the time of our inspection, no one was being restricted under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). However, staff knew how to apply for a DoLS authorisation if this was required.

Staff received regular training that provided them with the knowledge and skills to meet people’s needs.

People were treated with care, kindness and respect and staff promoted people’s independence and right to privacy.

People were supported and enabled to make choices about their care and the choices people made were respected by the staff.

People were involved in the assessment and review of their care and staff supported people to access the community and participate in activities that met their individual preferences.

Staff sought and listened to people’s views about the care and action was taken to make improvements to care. People understood how to complain about their care and a suitable complaints procedure was in place.

People and staff told us that the registered manager was supportive and approachable. The registered manager and provider regularly assessed and monitored the quality of care to ensure standards were met and maintained.

The registered manager understood the requirements of their registration with us and they notified us of reportable incidents as required.

People we spoke with told us. "I've been happy since I've been here".

We saw that people had been involved in making decisions about their care and welfare and saw that records reflected the stated assessed needs of people.

We saw that the environment met people's needs and because of this, they were able to exercise their independence within the home.

At the time of the inspection we saw that staffing levels were responsive to the needs of people who used the service to ensure that their care and social needs could be met.

We saw that people had plans of care in place detailing their needs, the plans were based upon their assessment of need. We saw that one person's personal care needs, privacy and dignity had been compromised because of the lack of suitable facilities.

We looked at staffing levels to determine if they were suitable to meet peoples needs. We noted that insufficient staffing levels were provided at times.

People we spoke with told us that felt able to raise concerns with staff if they needed to and any complaints would be listened to. One person told us, "I really feel settled here, the staff have been great and I'm not worried about things".