Archived: Social Care Solutions Ltd (Amersham Office)

This was the service’s first inspection since it registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Social Care Solutions Ltd (Amersham Office) provides care to four younger adults with learning disabilities in a supported living environment. Each person has their own individual flat and there is an additional communal area which people can make use of.

The service did not have a registered manager in post. 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. A registered manager left the service in March this year. The area manager for the service was intending to apply for registration. They were waiting for their criminal records check to be returned before they could submit an application.

We received positive feedback about the service. Comments from relatives included “I don’t know how you could improve it, it’s splendid,” “I’ve got nothing but praise” and “They’re incredibly caring.”

There were safeguarding procedures and training on abuse to provide staff with the skills and knowledge to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. Risk was managed well at the service so that people could be as independent as possible. Written risk assessments had been prepared to reduce the likelihood of injury or harm to support people to be independent and access the community. People were supported with their healthcare needs and their medicines were handled safely.

There were enough staff to support people. Staff were recruited using robust procedures to make sure people were supported by staff with the right skills and attributes. Staff received appropriate support through a structured induction, regular supervision and an annual appraisal of their performance. There was an on-going training programme to provide and update staff on safe ways of working.

Care plans had been written, to document people’s needs and their preferences for how they wished to be supported. These had been kept up to date to reflect changes in people’s needs. People were supported to take part in a wide range of social activities of their choice. Group activities were also arranged to avoid social isolation.

People were supported 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.

Most of the records we checked were maintained to a good standard. We found improvement was needed to make sure best interest decisions were recorded where people lacked capacity to make decisions for themselves.

We also found improvement was needed to data protection practice. Staff used their mobile telephones to photograph the people they supported as they engaged in activities and were out and about in the community. There was no guidance to ensure people’s privacy was protected through this practice.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.