11 and 12 February 2015
During a routine inspection
We carried out this unannounced inspection on 11 and 12 February 2015. This was the first inspection of this location which was registered in April 2014. The service was well established and had previously been managed from another location. We received concerns from the local authority safeguarding team. These concerns were looked at within a safeguarding process. We looked at the areas of concern during our inspection and did not find any evidence to support them.
Burrow Down Community Support provides a supported living service to people with learning disabilities or people who are on the autistic spectrum. A supported living service is where people live in their own home and receive care and support in order to promote their independence. People have tenancy agreements with the landlord and a separate agreement to receive their care and support from a domiciliary care agency.
There is a registered manager in post. 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.
We visited three of the six supported living settings. People had their own rooms and shared other parts of the house including the lounge, kitchen, dining room, and bathroom.
People were happy and relaxed when we visited them in their homes. Staff treated people with respect and kindness. People responded to this by smiling and engaging with staff in a friendly way.
People benefited from receiving care and support from skilled, trained, and experienced staff who knew them well. One person told us “I’m happy, I like living here”.
People told us they felt safe when staff supported them. They had a regular group of staff who they knew and trusted. Appropriate staff recruitment checks had been undertaken to ensure staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people. Staff received safeguarding training and knew what to do if they were concerned that a person was being abused.
Care plans were personalised, including people’s preferences and what was important to them. There was detailed information on how to meet people’s health and care needs, communicate, recognise when people were unwell, and manage behaviours that may present a risk to others. Where people did not have the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves, staff knew how to make sure people's rights were protected and worked with others in their best interests.
When people’s health needs changed the registered manager acted quickly to ensure the person received the care and treatment they needed. A community professional told us they always found the staff to be very responsive and committed to providing a personalised service to individuals.
People were active members of their local community and took part in a range of activities. Flexible staff support was provided to meet people’s needs and allow them to follow their interests. People were enabled through positive risk taking to progress, gain new skills, and increase their independence.
People were supported to maintain a balanced diet. People took part in food shopping and preparing their meals. Staff offered choices in food and drink and supported people to prepare them.
People's medicines were managed safely. Some people managed their own medicines if they wanted to and if they had been assessed as safe to do so. Staff gave other people their medicines. People had received their medicines as they had been prescribed by their doctor to promote good health.
The service had an open culture and clear vision and values, which were put into practice. People told us they found the registered manager was approachable. Where complaints had been made, the provider had responded appropriately. Action had been taken to prevent the issue happening again. Staff said there was an open and honest culture and they could speak to the registered manager at any time.
The registered provider had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of care and support provided. They encouraged feedback and used this to drive improvements.
Incidents were recorded in individual care plans. We recommend that the service considers keeping incident records together so the registered manager can monitor them for trends.