The Care Quality Commission has found the quality of care provided by Gemstone Care Limited, in Loughton, Essex, to be Outstanding overall following an inspection in July.
Gemstone Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides 24 hour care and support across four supported living locations to people with a learning disability.
Inspectors found staff were caring and compassionate and people were being provided with safe, responsive, caring, effective and well-led care.
A full report of the inspection has been published on our website
Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
Gemstone Care Limited was rated Outstanding overall, Outstanding for being caring and well-led and Good for being safe, effective and responsive.
Rob Assall-Marsden, CQC’s Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care in the central region said:
“Our inspection team were really impressed by the level of care and support given to people in their own homes by Gemstone Care Limited."
“The service was extremely well led. The provider demonstrated passion and dedication towards improving the lives of the people the service supported. Using their years of experience in the field of learning disability, they were creative and innovative in their approach to support staff to empower people to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives."
“People felt safe and were happy with Gemstone as the provider had managed to strike the right balance between protecting people from harm whilst at the same time promoting their freedom and independence."
“People were given opportunities to take acceptable risks in their lives with the right level of support provided by staff. Activities were planned around what people wanted and not restricted."
“Staff supported people to make choices about what they wanted to do in their day to day lives including exploring interests, education and job opportunities and maintaining and developing relationships that were important to them."
“All of this meant people received a high standard of care, which is why it has been rated Outstanding.”
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said:
“The quality of care which our inspectors found here was exceptional and I am very pleased that we can celebrate the service’s achievements."
“An outstanding service is the result of a tremendous amount of hard work and commitment. I would like to thank and congratulate everyone involved.”
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The quality of care which our inspectors found here was exceptional and I am very pleased that we can celebrate the service’s achievements.
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care