Supported Housing

Updated 9 January 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 17 October 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. This was to enable the registered manager to arrange for staff to be available to speak with us and to gain consent from people to visit them at their home. The inspection was completed by two inspectors.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

Prior to the inspection we requested information from the local authority commissioners and Healthwatch England. Healthwatch England is an independent consumer champion for health and social care. We used the feedback we received to inform the planning of our inspection. We reviewed statutory notifications we had received. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law

The inspection site visit started on 17 October 2018. We met the registered manager at the service office location. The registered manager and two senior care officers were available to speak with us throughout the day.

We spoke with four members of staff. We reviewed two people's support plans and three staff files. We also looked at documentation that supported the running of the service. We spoke with four people receiving the service and following the inspection we spoke with three relatives and two health care professionals.

Updated 9 January 2019

This comprehensive inspection took place on 17 October 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. This was to enable the registered manager to arrange for staff to be available to speak with us and to gain consent from people to visit them at their home. The inspection was completed by two inspectors on the first visit and one inspector on the two further visits.

Supported Housing is owned by The East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC). The service provides 24-hour domiciliary care and support to 18 people with learning disabilities in the community. It has an office base in Beverley. Support workers provide a service to people living in either supported living scheme properties or in their own homes. Hours of support are dependent upon individual needs and parts of the service operate over 24 hours, providing sleep-in support as required.

The service was last inspected in March 2016 and at that time we gave an overall rating of good. The provider had made improvements to the service since the last inspection and the well led domain has improved to outstanding.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service was caring. Staff knew the importance of developing good working relationships with the people they supported and ensured they provided person centred care based on their specific needs. People told us they felt like one big family and staff supported people to maintain relationships formed across services. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of people's personalities, individual needs and what was important to them.

Staff demonstrated warm caring relations between people and staff and we were told that people felt valued and that their relations with staff were person centred and focused on them as individuals

The service was exceptionally well-led. All levels of the management team shared the same vision for providing a service that promoted a high standard of person centred care. The registered manager’s enthusiastic attitude drove the service. Staff saw them as a role model and followed their lead by embedding the values of the service in all areas of support for people.

The approach of the registered manager and the staff team collectively empowered people to live their lives the way they wanted to.

The quality assurance team told us that the registered manager was extremely driven and committed to internal processes for managing quality and was always at the fore front leading the way for other services.

People using the service told us they felt safe. Staff showed a good understanding of how to keep people safe and were aware of safeguarding procedures in place to ensure safety. Detailed risk assessments supported people to take positive risk and promote people’s independence. Systems were in place that ensured staff were recruited safely.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. People were fully involved in choosing and preparing their own meals and to maintain a healthy diet. Records showed health advice was sought in a timely manner and people had access to a range of healthcare professionals.

The service understood the needs of different people and groups of people, and delivered care and support in a way that met these needs and promoted equality. People received personalised care which was responsive to their needs. Where people’s needs changed the staff worked in a proactive way to ensure these changes were communicated across the team and recorded.

People planned activities that were meaningful to them. Annual holidays were of people’s own choice and staff supported people to explore new activities and interests by providing people with information of events in the local area.

End of life care plans were in place and staff supported people to explore feelings and deal with bereavement.