St. Christopher Care

St. Christopher Care is a supported living service which is registered to provide personal care. At the time of the inspection, they were supporting one person with a learning disability and was receiving personal care. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

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

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 statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. This enabled people who used the service to live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes.

Right Support

People received care and support that was personalised and responsive to their individual needs. Staff knew people's routines and provided the support they needed in the way they preferred. There was a positive relationship between people and the staff who supported them. People received their health support in a kind and compassionate way. Staff promoted people’s independence and confidentiality of people’s personal information was maintained. People and their relatives were involved in their care plans, including how to reduce the likelihood of the person becoming distressed. A relative told us that their family member was much happier since they moved to the service. People were supported to maintain good health and to access healthcare services when they needed.

Right Care

Systems were in place to assess people’s needs before they started to use the service. The assessment covered areas of the person’s physical, social, psychological and cultural needs. Risk assessments had been completed and staff were trained to support people safely. Accidents and incidents were recorded and monitored to identify how the risks of reoccurrence could be reduced. 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 were supported to maintain relationships with relatives.

Right culture

People were kept safe from avoidable harm because staff knew them well and understood how to protect them from abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. People and their relatives were encouraged to provide feedback on the quality of care and this was acted on. Safe recruitment procedures were followed to ensure staff were suitable to work with people who used the service. There were sufficient numbers of staff working for the service. The service was structured around the needs of the people and was able to adapt to their changing needs. The management team ensured a robust auditing process was in place.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 20 August 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

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