Archived: Learning and Support Services Limited

Updated 30 May 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to younger adults and older people.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed any notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law.

We looked at the Provider Information Return (PIR). Providers are required to send us this key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

Inspection site visit activity started on 15 March 2019 and ended on 12 April 2019. During this time, we spent two days at the location office and contacted people using the service and staff to hear their views. We looked at records relating to three people’s care, incident reports, policies and procedures, recruitment procedures, and training records. We also looked at audits and systems in place to check on the quality of the service provided.

We spoke with the registered manager and the nominated individual (which we referred to as the provider), and three support workers. We also spoke with one person using the service and four people’s relatives.

Updated 30 May 2019

About the service:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to younger adults and older people, covering a range of needs: learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health, physical disability and sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were supporting eight people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People and their relatives consistently spoke about the exceptionally kind, caring, and thoughtful management and staff. Staff went over and above their usual care duties and formed trusting and caring relationships with people and their relatives.

One relative described the management and staff as, “Lovely, genuine people, everyone says how did I get such good carers…so pleased they have started the business.”

Staff supported people to keep safe and acted when necessary to prevent any harm or discrimination.

People received a reliable, flexible service. One person said, “They have never missed a call.”

Staff were highly motivated, enjoyed their job and have the skills, training and support to provide safe, person centred care.

Staff knew people well. They had developed good relationships with people.

People were consulted over their care and support needs and actively encouraged to make decisions for themselves.

Care plans were person centred. Staff were responsive in identifying and reviewing changes to support good physical and mental health.

The service was well run and committed to providing a quality service.

Rating at last inspection:

This was the first inspection following the provider registered with the CQC on 7 November 2017

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection following their registration.

Follow up:

We will re-inspect this service within the published time frame for services rated good. We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.

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