St Anne's Community Services- South Tyneside

About the service

St Anne’s Community Services – South Tyneside provides care and support to people living in a number of '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 supports people with physical disabilities, learning disability and mental health support needs. 20 people were being supported by the service at the time of the inspection.

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: The service maximised people’s choice, control and independence. Staff were safely recruited and received an induction followed by training from the provider. Training was monitored and staff were supported with regular meetings and supervisions. Staffing capacity was enough to meet people’s needs. The provider followed current best practice guidelines to effectively manage people's medicines and risks associated with infection prevention and control (IPC). People and their relatives were very positive about the care provided. People told us they felt safe, and staff had the skills to support them.

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 promoted 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: People who use services live confident, inclusive, and empowered lives thanks to the leaders' and care staff's ethos, values, attitudes, and behaviours. The staff team coordinated efficiently to ensure that people's rights and preferences were respected. Regular communication between the service and family members and medical experts helped to foster positive working relationships and gave people the freedom to conduct their lives as they saw fit. The management team set a good example, and people were encouraged to take positive risks and were supported to complete more tasks independently.

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 October 2018).

Why we inspected

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

We undertook a focused inspection. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed not changed. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for St Anne’s Community Services – South Tyneside on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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

St Anne's Community Services - South Tyneside, provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes or 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.

At our last inspection we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of ‘Good’ and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The care service had 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.

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.

People and their relatives we spoke with told us they felt safe and well cared for. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities regarding keeping the people they cared for safe. Safeguarding alerts that had been raised had been dealt appropriately and in line with the provider’s own policy.

Robust recruitment checks were carried out prior to any new staff commencing employment. Staff had the appropriate skills and had received training for their role. Training records however, showed that for some staff certain areas of training had lapsed. The registered manager told us that all outstanding training would completed by the end of September 2018. Staff confirmed they had regular supervision sessions and yearly appraisals.

The process of handling of people’s medication was safe. Records showed that staff carried out regular health and safety checks at people’s homes to make sure they were safe. Risk assessments were in place for people who used the service and described potential risks and the safeguards in place to mitigate these risks.

People contributed to the development of their care plans which were written in a person-centred way and were clear to understand. Person-centred is an approach that ensures the person is included in their support and their preferences are respected. Care plans also demonstrated involvement from other healthcare professionals to ensure that people’s ongoing and any emerging health needs were met. Care plans were assessed on a regular basis to ensure people received care and support that was appropriate to their needs. Staff understood the needs of people and that was evidenced when we visited people in their homes.

Where possible, people were supported and encouraged to lead as independent a life as possible. Social activities and involvement with the local community are a great focus for the service and this was confirmed when we spoke with people, staff and relatives. People were also supported to maintain and develop relationships that were important to them.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

Staff were able to describe to us the importance of ensuring that people’s nutritional needs were met.

People and relatives told us that staff treated people with care, kindness and compassion and we were able to observe this when we visited people in their homes. Staff were able to describe how they would maintain people’s dignity and respect at all times and relatives we spoke with confirmed this.

Feedback regarding the service is sought via a yearly questionnaire, which is sent to people using the service, their relatives and other stakeholders. The provider also has a complaints policy in place which also allows for feedback to be given.

Staff told us they felt that supported and valued by the registered manager and deputy managers and that all managers were very approachable.

The provider had notified CQC of all significant events in line with their legal responsibility. The provider had a range of internal audit systems in place and had taken steps to address any actions resulting from these audits. However, audits carried out at regional level had not taken place since February 2018. This was discussed with the registered manager.

Records reviewed showed that the provider carried out regular risk assessments for both people and their home environment.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.