Archived: Ambito Community Services Cambridgeshire

Updated 1 August 2019

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 planned this inspection to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type:

Ambito Community Services (Cambridgeshire) provides care and support to people living in one supported living setting. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate the premises used for supported living: this inspection looked at people’s care and support.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service five days’ notice of the inspection visit to the office. This was because the registered manager is often out supporting staff and we needed to be sure there was someone in the office when we arrived.

What we did:

Before the inspection visit we looked at information we held about the service and used this information as part of our inspection planning. The information included notifications. Notifications are information on important events that happen in the service that the provider must let us know about. In March 2019 the provider had sent us a completed provider information return (PIR). The PIR 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 inspection site visit activity started on 30 April 2019 and ended on 10 June 2019. We visited the office location on 30 April 2019 where we spoke with one team leader and looked at some records, including care records. We visited and spoke with three people at their homes on 7 May 2019. At this time, we spoke with the three staff who were supporting them and saw how staff interacted with each person. Afterwards, we met the registered manager. Following this we contacted two people’s relatives and healthcare professionals that the registered manager told us had regular contact with the service. The registered manager sent us further information that we asked for. The inspection was completed on 10 June 2019.

Updated 1 August 2019

About the service: Ambito Community Services (Cambridgeshire) is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to younger adults in a supported living setting. The service’s office is in Royston. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to four adults who have complex needs related to their learning and physical disabilities. Each person has their own flat and receives 24-hour, one-to-one support. Each flat has a second bedroom for staff use.

Not everyone who uses the service receives 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:

People with extremely complex needs were supported to lead the fullest and most meaningful life they wanted to lead. Although unable to communicate with us using words, we could see that people were happy, had excellent, warm, caring relationships with staff and were enjoying life. A relative said, “We’re very lucky to have got the service we have. I wish there were more services like this. They’ve given [our family member] a community – [name’s] got friends now. It matters a lot, not being isolated.”

Staff were exceptionally, kind, compassionate and caring. They provided fully personalised support to each individual that focussed solely on that person, to make sure each person lived the life they wanted to live. All staff completely understood how to support people’s privacy, dignity and independence.

People showed they felt safe with staff who were highly motivated, knowledgeable and skilled to provide each person with the support they needed. Staff were fully aware of policies and procedures to keep people as safe as possible and rigorously followed risk assessment guidelines to ensure no-one was put at risk. Staff supported people 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.

The service was exceedingly well-led by a registered manager who inspired the staff team to put the people they were supporting at the heart of everything they did. The provider’s values were put into practice by the staff and governance systems ensured the service provided was of the highest possible quality. People, their relatives and staff were always involved in improving all aspects of running the service and their voices were heard.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: The provider of this service changed in April 2018, although the service and staff remained the same. At the last inspection of the previous provider we rated this service Good (report published on 25 August 2017).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the provider’s registration.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we might inspect sooner.