Archived: Barnardo's The Triangle

Barnardo’s The Triangle, also known as Sutton Short Breaks Service, provides personal care and support to children and young people living in their family homes. The service provides respite care enabling families to take short breaks from their care responsibilities. At the time of the inspection 38 children and young people were using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

Relatives and commissioners gave us positive feedback about the service. One relative said, “I can give nothing but glowing reports of all the care and support I have received from Barnardo’s.”

There were systems to protect children and young people from abuse and foreseeable harm, including the safe management of medicines and infection control. Risks were assessed and managed in a person-centred way and in such a way as to restrict people’s freedom as little as possible. The provider dealt with incidents appropriately.

People’s needs were assessed and their care and support delivered in line with best practice guidance so people experienced good outcomes. Staff received training and support that enabled them to care for people effectively. The service worked well with other providers to ensure people’s needs were met, including healthcare and nutritional needs. People were 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.

People received care from staff who were friendly, caring and respectful of their needs in relation to equality and diversity. Staff were supportive and knew how to help people manage their emotions. People received support that enabled them to express their views using a variety of communication methods. This helped them to make meaningful choices about their care. Staff respected people’s dignity and, wherever possible, promoted independence.

Staff were responsive to people’s needs. People had care plans with a good level of detail about their needs, preferences, likes and dislikes. This enabled staff to provide care that was person-centred and helped people achieve their goals. The provider had considered how they could support people who were approaching the end of their lives, although this was not something the service provided at the time of our inspection. People received support to access their local community and engage in activities that were meaningful to them. The provider ran support groups that helped young people develop their social skills and facilitated the transition to adulthood.

The service had an empowering and person-centred culture. The provider valued people and celebrated their achievements. The provider sought feedback from people and their families, listened and responded appropriately to their suggestions, concerns and complaints. Staff were familiar with their roles and there were clear lines of accountability. The provider regularly completed checks of the quality of the service. This included managers of the provider’s other services checking each other’s services to provide an extra level of oversight. The provider worked well with other agencies.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 22 March 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Barnardo's The Triangle provides respite care and befriending services for children and young people with disabilities within their home and/or the community. This enables relatives and carers to have short breaks from their caring responsibilities.

The service had 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.

The service worked to match staff with children and young people looking carefully at areas such as the support needed, skills required and cultural background. Children and young people were supported by consistent staff members who knew them well and were trained and well supported in their job roles. Each staff member had been safely recruited, had access to regular training and supervision and felt well supported by the management team.

The service completed detailed assessments of children and young people’s needs and these were used to inform their support plan. The service kept children and young people’s needs under review and made changes as required. Staff were given the knowledge and support to manage specific health and behavioural needs.

Staff understood how to help protect children and young people from the risk of abuse. The service had procedures in place to report any safeguarding concerns to the local authority. Children, young people and staff were protected from potential risk of harm as the service identified and assessed any risks to them and reviewed these on a regular basis.

Relatives and carers felt able to raise any concerns or complaints. There was a procedure in place for people to follow if they wanted to raise any issues.

The service was well led. Managers monitored the quality of the service and made changes to improve the service provided when required. Relatives, carers and staff all told us that they found the management team approachable and responsive.