Avenues South Hampshire Services

Updated 31 May 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 3 inspectors and 1 assistant inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 3 ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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 27 March 2023 and ended on 18 April 2023. We visited the location’s service on 27, 30, 31 March and 6 April 2023.

What we did before the 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.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered.

We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 01 February 2023 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited 5 people and spoke with 4 people. Using specific communication methods, we were able to communicate with 3 of the people supported. We spoke with 5 relatives to get feedback about their family member’s care. We spoke with 15 staff including the registered manager, service managers, assistant service manager, support workers, senior operations managers, HR, a director and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also obtained feedback from 5 professionals who were involved with the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 5 people's care records and medication records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 31 May 2023

About the service

Avenues South Hampshire Services is supported living service providing personal care to people with a learning disability in their own houses and flats. At the time of the inspection there were 5 people using the service. Some people lived on their own, whilst other people lived in shared accommodation. People received a variable number of support hours per week, depending on their assessed needs.

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 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.

Right Support:

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. Care focused on people's abilities and promoted their independence.

Right Care: Staff were respectful of people's dignity, privacy and treated them as individuals with their own beliefs, thoughts, and aspirations.

Right Culture: The provider's management displayed caring and person-centred values. They modelled this behaviour to staff and set expectations that these values should be integral to staff's working practice.

Care enhanced people's lives by helping them to develop their skills and seek opportunities to have useful, fulfilling lives. People were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them, and care was arranged so people could access the services and activities which they wished. People's support plans identified how they would like to be supported and what they would like to achieve with the help of care and support. People's communication needs were identified and met to help ensure they could give meaningful feedback or raise concerns around their care.

People received safe care focused on minimising restrictions related to their care to promote their safety. People were supported to take positive risk to promote their independence whilst still receiving support to help keep them safe. There were enough staff in place, who had received the right training and support in their role.

People were supported to lead healthy lives and access healthcare services when required. Staff had worked with people to overcome their anxieties around accessing community and leisure services. Where appropriate, healthcare professionals were involved in planning and reviewing people's care. Staff were proactive in maintaining these relationships and effective in implementing healthcare professional's advice.

There were effective systems to oversee the quality of the service. There was a registered manager in place supported by service managers who were responsible for organising and overseeing people's care. The registered manager was knowledgeable, approachable, and professional in their role. They had a good understanding of people's needs and how they wished to be supported.

Staff were caring and kind. People and relatives told us that they were happy with the support staff provided. Staff were motivated in their role and understood the principles of promoting people's privacy and dignity by treating them with respect.

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

This service was registered with us on 23 June 2022, and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and in part due to concerns received about poor care and culture. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

Follow up

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