Archived: Wellington Support

Wellington Support is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to people with mental health needs. The agency supports 26 people. Not everyone using Wellington Support received personal care. At the time of our inspection, eight people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they felt safe and well cared for.

People we spoke with gave us positive feedback about staff. Comments included, "Staff are very kind,” “I feel respected and listen to,” and, “The managers are great, I see them every day and I can talk to them.”

The provider had effective safeguarding and whistleblowing systems and policies in place and staff were aware of how to recognise signs of abuse and were knowledgeable about what to do in the event of any concern being raised.

Risks to people were regularly assessed, reviewed and safely managed.

People were supported by staff who had been recruited by a robust process to ensure they had the right skills and attributes.

People had care plans in place detailing how they liked to be supported.

We saw evidence of mental capacity assessments being carried out as required.

People were fully involved in all aspects of their care where appropriate.

Staff were clear in their roles and responsibilities.

People could be confident that staff were trained to support them, the provider ensured staff had access to training and systems were in place to monitor staff performance.

Rating at last inspection:

GOOD (report published 30 October 2016)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our reinspection schedule for those services rated Good.

Wellington Support provides a 24hr service in shared occupancy housing to enable adults with complex mental health needs to continue living fulfilling lives in the community. When we inspected the service provided support to 12 tenants at 5-9 St Michael’s Avenue in Northampton.

A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

People benefitted from the availability of 24hr support from staff that were caring, friendly, and responsive to people’s changing needs. People were supported as tenants in their own accommodation by trained staff that were able to meet their needs safely. People’s right to make day-to-day choices about how they preferred their support to be provided was respected and this was reflected in their agreed care plans. Staff were able to demonstrate that they understood what was required of them to provide people with the safe support they needed to remain living independently in the local community.

There were sufficient numbers of staff employed to meet people’s assessed needs. People were protected from the risks associated with the recruitment of staff unsuited to the role by the provider’s recruitment procedures. Comprehensive risk assessments were also in place to reduce and manage the risks to people’s health and welfare.

People benefitted from a service that was appropriately managed so that people received their service in a timely and reliable way. Each person always had the assistance they needed throughout the day and night, seven days a week.

People’s rights were protected and decisions about their care and support were taken in their best interest. People had the guidance they needed to raise concerns or make a complaint. There were procedures in place to ensure complaints were appropriately investigated and action was taken to make improvements to the service when necessary.

We gathered evidence against the outcomes we inspected to help answer our five key questions; Is the service caring? Is the service responsive? Is the service safe? Is the service effective? Is the service well led?

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, speaking with people using the service, the staff supporting them and from looking at records.

Is the service safe?

The staff on duty had a good understanding of how to meet the needs of people who used the service. We saw that people were relaxed and comfortable in the presence of the staff. All the people we spoke with told us that they felt safe and happy living at the service.

Staff received regular training and support which helped them to provide safe care. Staff knew who they should contact, should they have any concerns about the treatment of people who used the service. Health and safety checks were carried out to make sure the premises were safe for people using the service.

Is the service effective?

People told us that they were involved in making decisions in how they wanted their needs to be met. They told us they were asked by staff how their care and treatment needs were to be met by them. They told us that they were happy with the care they received from staff. We saw staff had received the training and support they needed to meet people's needs effectively.

Is the service caring?

We saw staff approached people who used the service in a caring and respectful manner. People we spoke with told us that there were staff available when they required their support. One person told us staff 'They are available whenever I need to speak to them for support'. They told us that the staff were kind and understood their needs well. The staff told us that they enjoyed working with the people and they worked well as a team.

Is the service responsive?

We saw that staff were available to support people who used the service. One person told us when they felt un-well; they asked the staff to make an appointment for them to visit the GP. Another person told us that they had review meetings with their funding authorities and the staff from the home. This was to discuss how their needs were being met at the service. They told us that they felt listened to and supported by people at the meeting.

Is the service well-led?

The provider had monitoring systems in place to ensure that medication administration records, staff recruitment and health and safety checks were undertaken regularly to ensure all systems were kept up to date to keep people safe. People told us that they had meetings with staff and their views were asked about how the service was meeting their needs. They told us that they were able to discuss any concerns they had about anything. We found that some identified improvements were acted upon.

People who used the service gave us positive feedback about living at the service and told us that staff supported them with their needs. One person said, "They are always there for me when I need them'. Another person told us that they thought the staff were 'caring and great'.

We found that people were involved in giving their consent to receive the support they required at Wellington Support. We found that people's needs were assessed and people worked towards targets to help them become more independent. We found that the level of support each person needed was varied and individualised to meet each person's needs.

We found concerns about the procedures that were in place to report any suspected abuse and found that appropriate checks were not completed on staff before they commenced employment, to ensure that they were of suitable character. We found that the management team completed a number of audits and checks to ensure that people were receiving suitable care and support.