Salisbury Support 4 Autism

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider made sure people were treated with dignity and respect. People were cared for by familiar staff who they liked and had good relationships with. We observed staff being respectful, kind and gentle. Comments from people’s relatives included, “Staff are so caring”, “Everyone is treated as an individual”. “[Person’s] dignity and privacy are respected. The staff always knock on the door and give as much privacy as safety allows”, “Staff are respectful and nurturing” and “Staff understand [person’s] choices.”

Staff spoke to and about people with fondness and respect.

The provider made sure people were treated as individuals. People were supported to participate in a range of different activities which reflected their interests and needs. They were supported to go on holiday both locally and abroad. Comments from relatives included, “[Person] loved [their] holiday with staff”, “Staff hold big parties and everyone is invited” and “Religion, culture and sexuality is celebrated and they display things for special events, like Pride flags.”

People’s religious, cultural and individual needs were recorded in support plans. People were helped to meet these needs. For example, some people were supported to plan for religious festivals, to attend places of worship and to prepare cultural meals.

Some people were able to independently leave their homes and use the internet. The staff developed assessments and plans to help make sure people understood about safety and could identify risks from other people. They worked with other professionals to develop personalised information and support.

Staff told us they worked closely with people’s families to understand their needs, personal stories and lifestyle.

The provider supported people to be independent and learn new skills. The staff helped each person to focus on the skills they wanted to develop. These included cooking, cleaning, crafts and accessing the community safely. Staff had supported some people to develop skills to move to more independent settings and their own flats.

People took part in a wide range of group and individual activities. They made choices about these. Some people attended college, and some were supported to access work.

Relatives told us they thought people were given good support to develop skills and try new things. Their comments included, “[Person] does different activities and this has helped reduce negative behaviour’’, “[Person] is encouraged to do a lot of activities and keep busy”, “Staff encourage [person] to be independent with cooking” and “[Person] goes everywhere. [They] love concerts and music festivals and have been to so many. The staff go with [them] and support [them].”

Staff told us they enjoyed supporting people to develop their skills. Their comments included, “[People] all have their differences, we treat them all differently but focus on promoting their independence” and “I enjoy working with people and giving them opportunities.”

The staff responded to people’s immediate needs. They knew and understood people well. They were able to identify when people were in pain or distressed. There were clear plans and guidelines to identify how people communicated. Staff discussed these guidelines with each other. They explained how they responded when people had seizures or became unwell. Records confirmed staff gave appropriate support.

The provider supported staff with their wellbeing. Staff told us they were happy working at the service, had good relationships with each other and managers and that they had regular opportunities to discuss their work. The provider supported internal promotions and offered training for staff to develop their skills and experiences. Some of the comments from staff included, “I have supervision every 3 months with the manager, I find it very helpful. The manager will explain things and you get an opportunity to raise concerns. I feel confident this isprivate and confidential, so I can ask any questions, they listen and suggest ways of working” and “I’ve been given lots of opportunityto grow and develop within the organisation and I’m very grateful for that.”

During the assessment we spoke with and met different staff, including senior staff and managers from within the organisation. They shared a positive view of their work and spoke well of each other and the support they received. The operations lead told us they supported staff to take part in friendly competitions between the services to look at which team had the most creative ways of supporting people or celebrating different events.