New Prospects

Updated 6 February 2019

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.

A site visit took place at the New Prospects office on 19 December 2018 and was announced. We gave short notice of the inspection because we needed to make sure that staff were available to assist us to access records. One adult social care inspector conducted the inspection. After the site visit, on 21 December 2018 an expert-by-experience contacted people and relatives by telephone with advanced permission to gather their feedback on the service. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

On 8 January 2019, an adult social care inspector visited three supported living settings to meet and speak with people who lived there and their support staff.

Prior to the inspection we reviewed all the information we held about New Prospects, including any statutory notifications that the provider had sent us. Notifications are made to us by providers in line with their obligations under the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009. These are records of incidents that have occurred within the service or other matters that the provider is legally required to inform us of.

We asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to the inspection. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. All this information informed our planning of the inspection.

As part of the inspection we spoke with 10 people using the service and six relatives to gather their views. We spent time with seven people and talked with them about their daily life. In addition, we spoke with five members of care staff, a service manager, the registered manager and the chief executive. We contacted external health and social care professionals/teams who were involved in supporting people who use the service. We received two responses. We reviewed a range of care records and information kept regarding the management of the service. This included looking at three people’s care records in depth, five staff files and records related to quality assurance.

Updated 6 February 2019

New Prospects provides care and support to 213 people up to 24 hours per day, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and their wider social support.

The service has 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. People with learning disabilities and/or autism using the service can live as ordinary life as any citizen.

At our last inspection we rated the service outstanding. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of outstanding and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained outstanding.

Everyone spoke extremely highly of the staff and gave us multiple examples of outstanding care. People and relatives told us staff maintained their dignity and treated them with utmost respect. The whole staff team were incredibly enthusiastic and passionate about the services they provided. Staff demonstrated that they were extremely committed to making a positive difference to people’s lives.

People were cared for exceptionally well in the comfort of their own homes. Staff knew the people they supported remarkably well and we observed staff acting with kindness and patience.

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

The service was entirely flexible and provisions were changed and adapted to meet people’s current needs and choices. There was excellent communication with external professionals to ensure services achieved positive outcomes for people.

Support plans were extremely person-centred and accurately detailed each person’s history, their current care needs and the social support they required. Risk assessments were in place to identify and mitigate risks to people’s health and safety. Wherever possible, positive risk taking was promoted to encourage people to become more independent. Lessons learnt from incidents were an essential part of the continuous improvement and development of further precautionary measures.

Staff promoted activities which inspired people to participate in pastimes that were motivating and meaningful to them. Individual activity plans were in place which empowered people to get involved in social events that they were interested in. Staff ensured people had the chance to pursue education and work. We heard about people who had achieved dreams and ambitions. Group activities were arranged to maintain people’s links with their local community and provided further opportunity for social interaction with family and friends.

There had been very few complaints made about New Prospects. This demonstrated that overall people and relatives were pleased with the services provided. The management team presented multiple opportunities for people, relatives and staff to talk to them about the service. Everyone was actively encouraged to contribute to decisions made about the services.

There was an extremely experienced and well established registered manager in post who ensured regular checks on the quality and safety of the service were meticulously carried out. The whole management team were avid supporters of collaborative working and they often organised and led partnership events with other organisations to ensure any decisions made benefitted the people who used local services.

The recruitment process continued to be safe. Staff training was up to date and bespoke training had been created and provided. The management team supported staff and enthused them to become highly skilled and knowledgeable. Staff welcomed the opportunities given to them to progress their careers and had achieved qualifications in health and social care. There were plenty of staff employed to manage the services safely, reliably and effectively.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.