Mentaur Community Support Limited

Updated 20 September 2018

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 inspection took place on 28 August 2018 and was announced.

We gave the service short notice of the inspection site visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The provider returned the PIR however the inspection did not take place until sometime after this and we took this into account when we made judgements in this report.

We reviewed the information we held about the service, including statutory notifications that the provider had sent us. A statutory notification provides information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also contacted health and social care commissioners who place and monitor the care of people living in the home, and Healthwatch England, the national consumer champion in health and social care to identify if they had any information which may support our inspection.

During our inspection, we spoke with one person who received support with their personal care. We also spoke with two people that used the service but did not require support with their personal care. We spoke with three members of care staff, the registered manager and the providers representative.

We reviewed five staff files and the care plan documentation for one person who received support with their personal care. We also looked at other information related to the running of and the quality of the service. This included quality assurance audits, training information, staffing rotas, and arrangements for managing complaints.

Updated 20 September 2018

This inspection took place on 28 August 2018 and was announced. This was the first inspection for this service to receive a rating.

Mentaur Community Support Limited provides care and support predominantly to people with learning disabilities. The service supports some people lived in a supported living setting, and some people living in their own homes, 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 only at people’s personal care and support.

Not everyone using Mentaur Community Support Limited receives the regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of this inspection the service was only supporting one person living in a supported living service with their personal care needs.

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.

People told us they felt safe, and staff had an understanding of abuse and the safeguarding procedures that should be followed to report abuse. All the staff we spoke with were confident that any concerns they raised would be followed up appropriately by their manager. Staffing levels were flexible to meet the needs of people using the service and adequate recruitment procedures were in place. People had risk assessments in place which outlined their known risks and safe procedures were in place to administer people’s medicines.

People’s needs were fully considered before they began to use the service to make sure their needs could be met. People's consent was gained before their care was provided. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were treated with dignity and respect and staff were able to spend time getting on know people and their preferences. People and their relatives were made to feel welcome at the service, and were involved in making choices about their care.

People had care plans in place which reflected their needs and these were regularly updated. Staff made great efforts to help people achieve their goals or participate in activities that they could enjoy. Complaint procedures were in place for people to make a complaint, should the need arise.

The service was well led and people and staff had confidence in the leadership. The registered manager had effective quality assurance systems in place which helped to improve the service and people and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about any improvements that could be made. The culture at the service was open and transparent and people were involved in their care decisions and empowered to be as independent as possible.