Community Prospects

Updated 25 October 2022

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in a number of ‘supported living’ settings and in their own homes so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there were two registered managers in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

Inspection activity started on 5 July 2022 and ended on 26 July 2022. We visited the location’s services and people’s homes where a regulated activity was taking place on 5, 6, 7 and 15 July 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service since its registration at the current address. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We reviewed six people’s care records and five people’s medication administration records. We spoke with 12 members of staff including one of the registered managers, an administrator, the head of quality, supported living service managers, assistant service managers, care workers and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We observed interactions between staff and people who used the service. We received feedback from six healthcare professionals who regularly worked with the service. We reviewed five staff recruitment files.

Updated 25 October 2022

About the service

Community Prospects is a service providing care to people in several supported living settings and to people in their own homes. The service is registered to provide care to autistic people, people with a learning disability, mental health conditions and older people. 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. There were 15 people receiving personal care across eight different locations at the time of the inspection.

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.

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

Right Support:

Staff supported people to live as independently as possible and be in control of their daily lives. People were supported by staff to take up paid employment which helped them to maintain their independence and reduce the level of support they required from staff. People were provided with a choice in all their decision-making and families were involved where they wanted to be. People’s risks in relation to their care were managed well. Staff understood how to maintain and improve people’s independence, including taking positive risks. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs and their individual one-to-one hours were met. We were assured that the service were following good infection prevention and control (IPC) procedures to keep people safe.

Right Care:

People and their relatives told us they felt supported by staff in a kind, caring and dignified way. People’s differences were respected by staff and they had undertaken relevant training to effectively support people. People told us that the care they received was consistent and that staff knew them well. Service managers tried to match people with carers of their choice wherever possible. Kitchen areas were always accessible to people and they were able to choose their meals with appropriate support from staff. People’s right to privacy was respected and staff encouraged people to regularly provide feedback about the care provided. Care plans were personalised and included information on people’s healthcare needs, preferences, challenges and hobbies. People’s preferences and abilities in relation to oral care were recorded clearly in care plans. Services were located in residential streets and there were no outward signs to differentiate them from neighbouring properties.

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 Culture:

The culture of the service was open, inclusive and empowered people to live independent lives. The service was exceptionally well-led from the top and feedback from people, their relatives, staff, healthcare professionals and the systems in place reflected this. People and their relatives felt their ideas and concerns would be listened to by management. People told us they felt that staff had helped them become more confident and independent. Management had undertaken regular audits to look at ways of improving the service and identifying issues. Staff were complimentary about the management of the service, felt valued and told us they were able to raise concerns with the manager. Staff were encouraged by management to undertake training and were encouraged to follow a career path should they wish to. Management had worked exceptionally closely with healthcare professionals to achieve positive outcomes for people. This included setting up a Proactive Community for people and chaired by people. Management had engaged people who used the service and staff in different projects to tackle current healthcare challenges, such as obesity affecting people with learning disabilities and working with external organisations to create a healthy eating mobile phone application. People who used the service were actively encouraged to attend and contribute to staff training sessions.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 29 August 2019 and this is the first inspection at this address. The last rating for the service at the previous premises was good published on 29 November 2016.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and based on the date it registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Follow up

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