Active Friendly Support Ltd

Active Friendly Support is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. It provides a service to people who have a learning disability and/or autism. 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. At the time of our inspection, the service was providing personal care to 2 people.

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.

This provider was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

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.

Right Support:

People at Active Friendly Support were placed at the heart of the service. There was a strong person-centred culture that valued the individual and involved people in making decisions about their lives.

The provider had processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding and knew how to act on concerns. A relative told us they felt that their relative was safe. They commented, “Yes – they’re really good staff that [persons] got.”

There was a recruitment system to ensure appropriate staff were employed and there were enough staff to support people.

Risks associated with people’s care had been identified and assessments were in place to minimise risks occurring.

Professionals involved were positive about the support provided. One commented, “All my clients are absolutely 100% happy with the support they receive and the `extra mile` that both management and support workers give to ensure people have a positive and fulfilled life.”

Right Care:

People received care and support from staff who knew them well and understood their needs and considered their preferences. Staff interacted positively with people and had a caring and respectful approach.

People were supported to achieve their goals and to increase their independence.

Staff worked in partnership with health professionals to ensure people received the right care and support. One professional commented, “I have worked with Active Friendly Support to use a Trauma Informed Care framework which they have initiated really well and in a sensitive way. They have implemented all agreed strategies and have been keen to discuss and build on these.”

Right Culture:

The senior team and staff had developed a strong and visible person-centred culture in the service and all staff we spoke with were fully supportive of this.

People were involved in planning their support and deciding how they wanted staff to support them to meet their outcomes and achieve their goals. People received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

Staff told us should they have any concerns about poor practice they would feel confident to raise them and for their concerns to be acted upon. One staff commented, “I would feel comfortable addressing any issues I saw directly with colleagues or with [Registered Manager]. If I wasn’t we all know about whistleblowing.”

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 14 November 2019). A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 08 October 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when, to improve fit and proper persons employed.

We undertook a focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well Led which contain those requirements.

The overall rating for the service has improved to good.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Active Friendly Support Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home. It provides a service to people who have learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to four people. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. Two people were receiving support with their 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:

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.

The registered manager had recently left the service and they had cancelled their registration with the CQC. The nominated individual was managing the service at the time of the inspection. They told us they would be applying to register with the CQC.

Staff records showed the previous manager had not always ensured all the appropriate pre-employment checks were completed for new staff.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality and the safety of the service provided. However, our findings during the inspection showed some of these checks required improvement. For example, the checks completed on staff files.

One person we spoke with did not express any concerns or worries about their safety. They told us the support staff treated them with respect. They made positive comments about all the staff and were very satisfied with the quality of care and support provided. Staff supported them to achieve their goals and aspirations.

Safeguarding procedures were robust and staff understood how to safeguard people.

Systems were in place to make sure managers and staff learnt from events such as incidents, concerns and investigations.

People were provided with practical support to self-administer their medication. There were enough staff to ensure people’s care and support needs were met.

We saw the system in place to ensure staff had undertaken training would benefit from being more robust. The nominated individual told us they would start using a training matrix to record staff training. They said all staff were attending refresher training in November 2019.

There was a strong, visible person-centred culture. It was clear from our discussions with staff that they enjoyed caring for people living at the service and they found it rewarding.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff understood the importance of respecting people’s diverse needs and promoting independence.

People using the service was supported to maintain their independence and engage in activities of daily living such as cooking and food shopping, along with activities within the community.

We saw complaints were managed in line with the service’s complaints procedure.

Rating at last inspection:

This service was registered with us on 22/10/2018 and this is the first inspection. At this inspection we found a breach of regulation 19 (Fit and proper persons employed) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The nominated individual has taken action to mitigate the risks to people using the service by ensuring all appropriate pre-employment checks were completed. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

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

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the date of the registration of the service.

Follow up:

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