Background to this inspection
Updated
1 December 2020
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 Care Act 2014.
People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.
Inspection team
The inspection was completed by two inspectors.
Aspire Community Support Services is also a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.
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
This inspection was unannounced.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection-
We spoke with four people who used the service. We spoke with 10 members of staff including the registered manager, two deputy managers, the Managing Director and support staff. We reviewed a range of records including two care records and multiple medication records. We reviewed staff records in relation to recruitment, supervision and debriefs. A variety of management records including audits, policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at recruitment data, spoke with staff and reviewed quality assurance records.
Updated
1 December 2020
About the service
Aspire Community Support Services is a residential care home for 6 people with learning disabilities.
The home consisted of two buildings, the main house which can accommodate four people and a detached bungalow which can accommodate two people with more behaviours that challenge. At the time of the inspection four people were living at the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People said they felt happy and safe at the service; they were calm, settled and had good relationships with the staff. Actions were taken to protect people from the risk of abuse or neglect and concerns were raised to the appropriate partner agencies.
Medicines were managed safely and staff had a good knowledge of medication systems. Risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing were assessed and steps were in place to minimise incidents. Where incidents did occur, the service sought to learn lessons to minimise similar situations re-occurring. There were enough staff available to support people living at the service.
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.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with autism 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 guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autism.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
People were living active healthy lives with support from staff at the service. People were supported to maintain choice and control over their lives. People were supported to pursue areas of interest. People were supported to have choice and control over their care following the Right Support, right care, right culture principles.
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 requires improvement (published 12 May 2020) and there were four breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part, by notification of a specific incident, following which a person using the service died. We are making further enquiries separately regarding this incident. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident. We also checked the providers compliance with the warning noticed issued at the last inspection.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to coronavirus and other infection outbreaks effectively.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
We have seen improvements in the well-led and safe domains. Last time these were rated as requires improvement. Following our recent inspection, these have been rated as good. On the last inspection, the service was rated good in caring, requires improvement in effective and required improvement in responsive. Although these areas were not reviewed at this inspection, the ratings for these key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. As effective and responsive remain requires improvement, the overall rating for the service has remained required improvement. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Aspire Community Support Services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.