Avalon Scarborough Services

Updated 18 January 2024

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 team consisted of an adult social care inspector, a medicines inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in ‘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.

The service also offers support to people living in ‘shared lives’ arrangements. They recruit, train and support self-employed shared lives carers (SLC) who offer accommodation and support arrangements for vulnerable adults within their own family homes in the community.

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 not a registered manager in post. There were interim management arrangements in place, pending the provider appointing and registering a new manager.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority who works with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited the office, 4 of the supported living settings and 1 person living with a shared lives carer. We spoke with 6 people who used the service and 6 care staff who provide care within the supported living settings (some over the telephone). We also spoke with 3 shared lives carers. We spoke with 4 relatives about their experience of the care provided and received feedback via email from professionals who have contact with the service. We made observations of the care provided and looked at documentation and medicines within the home.

At the office we spoke with the director of operations, a regional director and locality manager who were overseeing the service in the absence of a registered manager, a service manager who was providing additional interim management support to the service, a senior service manager and 2 service managers (who each have responsibility for managing a small number of support packages), and 2 administrators.

We looked at records related to people’s care and the management of the service. We viewed 4 people’s support plans, daily notes and medicine records, 2 staff recruitment files, training and supervision information, and a range of records used to monitor the quality and safety of the service.

Updated 18 January 2024

About the service:

Scarborough Service provides support to people living in supported living settings, the community and shared lives placements. The service primarily provides support to people with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection there were 33 people using the service who were in receipt of support with personal care.

People’s experience of the service and what we found:

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, 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. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support

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. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. Staff supported people to lead full lives and be as independent as possible. People received safe support with their medicines. Infection prevention and control practices reflected current guidance.

Right Care

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff respected people's privacy and dignity and responded to people's individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse; they had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe. The service worked with other agencies and supported people to receive the healthcare they needed. People's support plans reflected their needs and preferences.

Right culture

People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to working with people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. This meant people received care that was tailored to their needs. There had though been several management changes since our last inspection, and this had impacted on aspects of consistency and staff morale. There was no registered manager, which is a condition of the provider’s registration. The provider was in the process of recruiting a new manager at the time of the inspection, and interim management arrangements were in place in the meantime. Quality Assurances processes were in place but needed to be used more effectively. We have made a recommendation about quality assurance.

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

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for the service at the previous premises was Good, published on 10 August 2018.

The service moved offices and was registered as a new location on 29 April 2022.

Why we inspected:

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and the length of time since the last inspection.