Affinity Trust Specialist Division South

Updated 6 June 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Affinity Trust Specialist Division South provides care and support to people living in 3 ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was no registered manager. A new manager was in post and was in the process of submitting an application to register. We are currently assessing this application.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

Inspection activity started on 22 March 2023 when we visited the location's office and ended on 23 March 2023 when we made telephone calls to people, relatives and staff.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people and 1 relative to understand their experience of the service. We also spoke with 8 staff including the manager, support manager, operations director, positive behaviour support lead and support staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people's care plans and care records, including medicine records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff training records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including incident management, improvement plans and policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 6 June 2023

Affinity Trust Specialist Division South is a supported living service, registered to provide personal care and support to people in supported living settings, so they can live as independently as possible. The service provides support to people with a learning disability, autistic people and people with mental health needs. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support. At the time of our inspection, there were 5 people in receipt of the regulated activity.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

Potential risks to people had not always been fully assessed so actions could be taken to ensure these risks were mitigated. The management team were working with staff to develop and improve care plans and assessments. They were providing staff with relevant and good quality training in positive behaviour support, so they could support people in safe way. People's medicines were regularly reviewed and they were supported to take these safely.

People were mostly 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. However, records relating to capacity needed improving and we have made a recommendation about this.

Right Care:

People's needs were assessed and developed into a support plan. Some improvements were needed to care plans to reflect people had accessed and attended appointments to ensure their healthcare needs were met. The management team was in the process of updating and developing care and support plans at the time of our inspection.

There were enough staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe. The service was flexible and adapted to meet people's changing needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff referred to people in a caring and respectful way. People had access to meaningful activities and support plans were person centred.

Right Culture:

The provider was working on recommendations and requirements made by external agencies following their concerns about the service. The management team had identified additional improvements in terms of staff approaches and understanding in how to meet people's needs. They had acted on requirements as a priority and were in the process of implementing additional improvements. These were not fully embedded at the time of our inspection. This demonstrated the provider had learnt lessons from incidents and taken action to keep people safe.

Staff described an improving service which was open and transparent about where things had gone wrong and what improvements needed to be made. Staff felt supported and informed in their roles, which in turn gave them confidence and understanding to meet people's needs.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 21 October 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. This included concerns about the overall management of the service. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.