Ablegrange Supported Living

Updated 21 June 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

The inspection was carried out by one 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

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including any feedback from the local authority and notifications of significant events the provider had sent to us. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 3 family members about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with the registered manager and 2 staff members who provided care to people.

We reviewed a range of records. This included people's care plans and risk assessments, medicines management procedures and staff files in relation to training and recruitment data. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and policies were also reviewed.

Updated 21 June 2023

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.

About the service

Ablegrange Supported Living is a supported living service providing personal care to 14 people with learning disabilities and autistic people. The service currently provides the service over 3 different sites which are all in close proximity.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.

Right Support: Model of Care and setting that maximises people’s choice, control and independence. Staff were recruited safely and had appropriate training on how to safeguard people using the service. The provider followed current best practice guidelines to effectively manage people's medicines and risks associated with infection prevention and control (IPC). People had individual positive behaviour management plans to guide staff when people became distressed or anxious.

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. If people lack capacity to make certain decisions appropriate support is sought to support them.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People were encouraged to communicate freely and accessed community for activities when they wanted to. Staff supported people to learn new skills and maintain important contacts.. People's care records were person-centred and up to date. Staff knew people well and understood their support needs which empowered people to make decisions about their care.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. The staff team worked well together making sure people's rights and wishes were protected. The service had regular communication with the healthcare professionals which led towards good working relationships and empowered people to choose the way they wanted to live their lives. The registered manager led by example and people were supported to take positive risks and were supported to do more things on their own.

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 - The last rating for this service was good (published 18 March 2021).

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ablegrange Supported Living on our website at www.cqc.org.uk .

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on when the service was previously inspected.

This was a focused inspection and the report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

Follow up

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