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Learning and Support Services Limited

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Dunmow Business Centre, 12 Stortford Road, Dunmow, Essex, CM6 1DA (01371) 502018

Provided and run by:
Learning and Support Services Limited

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

Latest inspection summary

On this page

Background to this inspection

Updated 8 September 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 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 houses and flats.

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 was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 15 July 2022 and ended on 22 July 2022. We visited the location’s office on 15 July 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service and used this to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. Eight members of staff gave us feedback; including support workers, the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We also reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records, three staff files in relation to recruitment and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 8 September 2022

About the service

Learning and Support Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. At the time of the inspection 16 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.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

People and their relatives spoke enthusiastically about how exceptionally caring, kind and supportive the staff and management were and how they were always willing to go above and beyond to ensure people received high quality care. They told us about the highly positive impact the service had made to their lives and how the care they received had enabled them to carry on when they were struggling or feeling isolated and encouraged them to develop their independence.

People and relatives told us they felt fully involved in the service and said there was a ‘family style’ and ‘collaborative’ approach to how care was delivered. Staff told us they felt valued and supported and proud of what they had achieved. One member of staff said, “They genuinely care about every person and staff member. I am proud to be a part of this team.”

People’s care was highly personalised and enabled them to achieve good outcomes. People were valued as individuals and were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests and the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were supported by a small and consistent staff team who knew them very well. People received their care at their preferred times and the provider was flexible and quick to adapt to any changes in people’s preferences for their care visits.

Risks to people’s safety were assessed and monitored and people had personalised risk assessments in place. The provider had systems in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse and staff knew how to recognise and report any concerns. Staff had access to appropriate personal protective equipment [PPE] and safe infection prevention and control processes were in place.

The provider had processes in place to ensure staff were safely recruited. However, some applicant's references were not in line with best practice guidance. We have made a recommendation about the provider's recruitment processes.

Staff received an induction when starting in their role and completed relevant training to develop their skills and knowledge. The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service and had built positive working relationships with other healthcare professionals to support people’s needs, share learning and develop the service.

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 8 October 2019 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service at the previous premises was Good, published on 30 May 2019.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection as the service has not been rated since registering at its current premises.

Follow up

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