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Affinity Trust Specialist Division South

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

1 Copton Ash, 18 Billa Barra Lane, Markfield, LE67 9PD (01530) 249120

Provided and run by:
Affinity Trust

All Inspections

22 March 2023

During an inspection looking at part of the service

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.