Happy Futures Support Specialists Ltd

Updated 9 January 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was 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.

Before our inspection, we reviewed information we held about the service, which included information shared with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and notifications sent to us since our last inspection. Notifications are when providers send us information about certain changes, events or incidents that occur within the service or which affect the people using it. We contacted the local authority’s adult safeguarding and commissioning teams to ask for their feedback. 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. We used this information to plan our inspection.

This inspection site visit took place on 10 and 25 October 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice of our inspection, because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure someone would be in the location office when we visited.

The first day of our inspection was completed by two inspectors. The second day was completed by two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is someone who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service. The expert by experience who supported this inspection was a specialist in learning disabilities and assisted by visiting people who used the service to speak with them and observe staff.

During the inspection, we visited the location offices which also served as a ‘skills centre’ for people who used the service. We also visited five supported living bungalows to speak with people who used the service and observe the care and support staff provided. Through this we spoke with four people who used the service and observed the care and support provided to five others. We also spoke with the relatives of three people who used the service. We spoke with the director who was also the provider’s nominated individual, registered manager, operations manager, activities coordinator, employment coordinator, field care supervisor and three care workers.

Updated 9 January 2018

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. This service also provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, 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.

Happy Futures Supporting People in North Yorkshire provides a service to people with a learning disability, autistic spectrum disorder or people living with mental health needs.

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.

We inspected this service on 10 and 25 October 2017. The inspection was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice of our inspection, because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in the location’s office when we visited.

This was our first inspection of this service since it registered at a new location in December 2015. At the time of our inspection the service supported 11 people with the regulated activity personal care. These people lived in their own homes in and around Scarborough including a number of people who lived in supported living bungalows where one to one care and support was provided for part or all of the day.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

During the inspection, we identified the service provided was outstanding. We found staff were extremely responsive to people’s needs. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the outstanding person-centred care and support staff provided. We found staff were passionate, enthusiastic and committed to understanding people’s needs and to providing high quality person-centred care to improve people’s quality of life.

People who used the service received support to engage in a very wide range of activities and to pursue their hobbies and interests. The provider had developed a ‘skills centre’ which provided a fantastic resource for people to use and enjoy. We saw people clearly benefited from the opportunities on offer to pursue meaningful activities including support to access employment and develop their CV’s.

The service was extremely well-led. The provider and management were committed and passionate about providing outstanding care and support. There was culture of continually learning and developing the service. Staff and people who used the service felt valued and there was an open and inclusive approach to how the service was led. The provider was an excellent role model and keen to learn, develop and implement best practice guidance and to share their knowledge with others.

There were effective systems in place to gather and respond to feedback. The provider valued people’s feedback and was clearly committed to listening and learning from people’s experiences of using the service to continually develop the care and support provided.

The service was safe. Staff received training on how to identify and respond to safeguarding concerns. Detailed risk management plans were in place to support staff to provide safe care and support and to minimise the risk of avoidable harm. Staff were skilled and experienced and used their knowledge of people’s needs to proactively identify and manage risks to people’s well-being. Staff supported people to take their prescribed medicines safely.

Appropriate recruitment checks were completed to ensure suitable staff were employed. There were systems in place to ensure people’s needs were met in a timely way and we found sufficient staff were deployed.

Staff received an induction and on-going training to equip them with the skills needed. New staff shadowed more experienced workers and there were opportunities to complete additional training as part of staff’s continual professional development. Supervisions, appraisals and spot checks were used to support staff. Staff told us they felt supported in their role and advice, guidance and support was available when needed.

Staff supported people to make decisions and we found strong evidence that staff were working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People received effective support to ensure they ate and drank enough and were supported to access healthcare service if necessary.

Staff were very kind, caring and attentive to people’s needs. People provided very positive feedback about the staff and had clearly developed meaningful caring relationships with them. Staff supported people to maintain their privacy and dignity and treated people with respect.