The Care Quality Commission
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South Hill

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

93 South Hill Avenue, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 3NZ (020) 8869 0226

Provided and run by:
Achieve Together Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

South Hill provides supported living to people with learning disabilities and autistic people. At the time of this assessment the service provided support to 4 people living in a supported living scheme in Harrow.

CQC only inspects the service received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

Assessment activity started on 3 June 2026 and ended on 30 June 2026.

The last rating for this service was good (published on 23 August 2022). This assessment was planned due to the length of time since our last rating. Following this assessment, the service remains good.

Some people using the service had a learning disability.We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities most people take for granted.We found people received carein accordance withthis guidance and care staff.

People were kept safe by staff that had knowledge and understanding of their responsibilities to protect people from harm or abuse.

Risk assessments identified current risks to people as well as ways for staff to minimise or appropriately manage those risks, including for positive risk taking.

Medicines management systems were in place.

People were supported to take positive risks where this enhanced their quality of life. Staff understood people’s emotional communication and responded effectively to signs of distress,anxietyand frustration.

Staff were deployed to meet people’s needs and keep them safe, and were supported through induction, supervision,appraisaland training to provide support to people.

People had choices about how they wanted their day-to-day care delivered and staff respected their decisions. People’s care and support reflected their choices, preferences, personalities,needsand individuality. Care was based on latest evidence and good practice.

Staff worked with agencies involved in people’s care for the best outcomes and smooth transitions. They monitored people’s health to support healthy living. Staff ensured people had choice and control and consented to their care. They followed processes to help ensure those important to people, and those involved in their care, took decisions in people’s best interests.

People were treated with kindness andrespect. Staff protected their privacy and dignity. They treated them as individuals and supported their preferences. People were supported toidentifyand achieve meaningful goals and aspirations, including hobbies and interests, and enabled to be as independent as possible. Staff encouraged and supported people to be a part of their local communities.

Staff were comfortable speaking up and felt well supported by the current manager. Governance and assurance processes were in place and were designed to identify areas for development and drive improvements. However, we found that some audits and systems did not consistently identify shortfalls. The service worked well in partnership with professional colleagues and their local community to effectively support people.

31 May 2022

During a routine 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.

About the service

Southill Avenue is a supported living service for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. On the day of our inspection the service provided support to nine people. The service has capacity to provide support to 11 people.

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

We found that the management of medicines required some area of improvement. For example, some handwritten medicines administration (MAR) lacked the required information. While we did not find any evidence that this had a negative impact on people, we shared our concern with the registered manager and requested that improvements were necessary to ensure people’s medicines was managed safely. The registered manager has provided us with some information after our inspection visit that they had taken actions to address the concerns stated above.

People who used the service were safe and were protected from harm and abuse. Staff had received appropriate training around safeguarding people from abuse and demonstrated good understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Risk in relation to receiving care and support had been assessed and robust plans to manage such risks were available and reviewed where required. Sufficient staff were deployed to meet people’s needs and appropriate recruitment checks were carried out. Medicines were overall managed safely. However, we discussed with registered manager to improve the system how the service responds to medicines alerts. People were protected from infections and appropriate guidance was followed to minimise the risk of the spread of COVID 19. Accidents and incidents were monitored, and trends and patterns were analysed to reduce the risk of reoccurrence and improvements to care can be made.

Right Support: Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence. People were supported to maximise their full potential and care was tailored around this. For example, staff constantly looked for people to have a wider choice of suitable activities to gain more skills, make friends and to ensure they were not socially isolated. People told us that they were in control of their own care and regularly discussed with staff how they wanted to be cared for and what support they needed.

Right Care: Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People who used the service were in the centre of the care and were consulted and asked how they wanted to be supported. The service and the leadership understood and promoted people’s rights and care was provided whilst ensuring people’s dignity was maintained while protecting their privacy. One relative told us, “I am fully involved in my relatives care but the service will always give preference to [name] wishers” and “The service supports [name] to become more independent but this is a slow process and is at [name] own pace.”

Right culture: Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. Feedback about the registered manager and staff was throughout positive and complimentary. People told us that staff ‘genuinely’ cared and showed they were interested in improving people’s lives. The service had a good track record of people gaining more skills and becoming more independent and a number of people had moved into more independent accommodation.

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. The service used positive behaviour support approach, which was opposed to restrictive practices.

The provider had a range of quality assurance processes, including systems necessary to maintain safe environments. The registered manager ensured policies and procedures met current legislation and were up to date. Relatives told us they were asked of their views about the quality of 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 and update: The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, (published on 1 February 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture. This was a planned comprehensive inspection.

Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed. We have made a recommendation in relation to the safe management of medicines. However, the service provided us with information of how they plan the issues highlighted above.

Follow up

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