About the service: Mencap North Notts is a service which provides care and support to people living in 12 ‘supported living’ settings, so that they live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate the premises used for supported living: this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. There were 36 people using the service.People’s experience of using this service:
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principals of Registering the Right Support in the following ways; promotion of choice, control and independence and inclusion. For example, people’s support focussed on them having as many opportunities to gain new skills and live as full a life as possible. Staff and managers concentrated on finding solutions to barriers which may have prevented people from doing activities they enjoyed.
People received caring and compassionate support from staff who had the appropriate skills and knowledge to carry out their role. We found that staff were passionate about the work they did and people using the service were at the forefront of everything they planned. This included staff thinking of innovative ways that people could achieve outcomes despite challenges. For example, barriers to social inclusion when a person using the service becomes anxious and upset with some groups of people outside of the service.
People’s rights to make their own decisions was respected. People were supported to access healthcare services where needed. People had enough to eat and drink and staff encouraged healthy eating.
People received personalised support based on their assessed needs and preferences. Staff knew how to support people in a way that they preferred. People knew how to complain.
The service was managed by a registered manager who had a very clear vision about the quality of care they wanted to provide. There were six service managers who shared that vision and who supported staff in a meaningful way ensuring that staff always had regular supervision and less formal chats when faced with challenges. Each service manager managed two services. Staff told us that they felt well supported to do their role and were encouraged to be innovative.
Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated Good (report published July 2016)
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.
Follow up: We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure that the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.