About the service Mallow Crescent is a supported living service offering care and support to people. There are five houses located at the end of a quiet residential crescent. The service supports people with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, older people, physical disability and younger adults. Mallow Crescent also has one residential care home providing personal care for up to 6 people for short term respite support. Mallow Crescent also operates an outreach service providing support to people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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. 26 people were being supported with personal care at the time of our inspection.
Services for people with learning disabilities and or autism are supported
The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People, their relatives and health and social care professionals described the staff as knowing people exceptionally well, and the care people received as being excellent.
Innovative and creative ways were used to deliver personalised care and support to people. People's health and wellbeing was closely monitored to ensure they received timely and appropriate treatment.
People were encouraged to live as full a life as possible and supported to achieve the best possible outcomes. Staff had formed positive relationships with the people they supported and looked for ways to make them feel valued. People were genuinely encouraged to express their hopes and dreams and the service looked for ways to make these a reality. Staff knew people really well and used this knowledge to support them achieve their goals. Staff were considerate of people's feeling at all times and treated people with the utmost respect and dignity.
People received highly personalised support. People's confidence, independence and health outcomes had improved since they began using the service. People were enabled to maintain relationships with those who mattered to them.
Staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and knew the correct action to take if they suspected abuse had occurred. There were enough staff to meet people's needs. Recruitment procedures were thorough and safe. People were supported by a consistent staff team who were aware of the risks to people and knew how to manage these safely. Medicines were administered, stored and disposed of safely. Infection control practices were robust.
The level of care and support given to people enabled them to have an excellent quality of life. Staff understood and knew how to apply legislation to help people make decisions and give their consent to treatment. Where restrictions were in place this was in line with appropriate guidelines.
People were supported by staff who had exceptional skills and knowledge to meet their assessed needs. People had enough to eat and drink and arrangements were in place to support people who had been identified as being nutritionally at risk.
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.
People had access to a wide range of personalised and group activities and were supported to have a say in all aspects of how the service was delivered. People were supported to have as many opportunities as possible, so they could gain new skills and live more independently.
People benefitted from a service that had a dedicated manager whose experience was used to support people to lead full and meaningful lives. The values of the provider were consistently demonstrated by staff in their interactions with people and with each other. People's views were sought out and acted upon.
Thorough quality assurance processes ensured the safety, high quality and effectiveness of the service. People and relatives felt listened to and their views were taken into account. These were used to shape 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
The last rating for this service was good (published 6 March 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.