Archived: Adult Placement

Updated 29 December 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was an announced inspection and was conducted by one adult social care inspector on the 26 and 27 November 2018.

We requested and received a provider information return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and any improvements they plan to make. We used this information to help plan the inspection.

Before our inspection visit we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included notifications the provider had made to us.

Notifications tell us about any incidents or events that affect people who use the service. We also asked Salford Healthwatch and local authority for their views of the service and they did not have any concerns.

We spoke with three people who used the service, two relatives, the registered manager, the adult placement social worker, four support staff members/carers.

During our inspection we looked at the care records of four people. We also looked at the recruitment, training and supervision records for four members of staff, minutes of meetings and a variety of other records related to the management of the service.

Support workers and those that care for people at Adult Placement are referred to as ‘carers’ by the service and we have used that term throughout our inspection report.

Updated 29 December 2018

This inspection took place on 26 and 27 November 2018 and was announced. We announced the inspection 48 hours in advance so that staff would be available at the head office to facilitate our inspection.

Adult Placement provides care and support for people over the age of 18 years who need support due to age, illness or disability. Care is provided by approved carers in their own home or, in some circumstances the person's own home. Carers provide support to people on either a long-term basis, for short-breaks (respite) or for day support. The service forms part of Aspire: for Intelligent Care and Support C.I.C and is located in Salford, Greater Manchester.

On the day of the inspection Adult Placement, Salford were supporting 130 people.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.

The service was rated as good at the last inspection in March 2016. 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. However, we identified some gaps in training and made a recommendation that the provider review their induction and training package to ensure that carers have sight of recent best practice to care for people appropriately.

The service had been developed and designed in line with the principles that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance; these values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. This policy asserts that people with learning disabilities and autism using a service should live as ordinary a life as any citizen. This policy can be found on the Care Quality Commission website.

The registered manager and staff understood their role and responsibilities to keep people safe from harm. Risks were assessed and plans put in place to keep people safe. Pre-employment checks were carried out on staff to assess their suitability to support vulnerable people.

People's needs were assessed before using the service and on an ongoing basis to reflect any changes in need.

People who used the service and their relatives told us care staff were kind, caring and helpful and treated them with respect. All the people/relatives we spoke with felt the care staff were approachable, listened to them and acted in accordance with their wishes. People we spoke with told us staff respected their privacy and dignity and felt they encouraged them to be as independent as possible.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), they told us that if they had any concerns about the capacity of a person using the service, they would contact the office. We saw where people lacked capacity this was clearly recorded within their care plan.

The service was aware of equality and diversity and ensured any support people needed with their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and culture was provided with empathy.

People’s communication needs were tailored to each person to ensure their wishes were known.