SENSE - Supported Living Services (West Midlands)

Updated 18 February 2017

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 inspection took place on the 19 December 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a supported living care service and we needed to ensure the registered manager, staff and people who used the service would be available for us to talk to. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

As part of the inspection we looked at information we already had about the provider. Providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission about specific events and incidents that occur including serious injuries to people receiving care and any safeguarding matters. We refer to these as notifications. We reviewed the notifications the provider had sent us and any other information we had about the service to help us to plan the areas we were going to focus on during our inspection. We also contacted the local authority who commission services from the provider for their views of the service.

During our inspection we spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, two support staff, one relative and two people who used the service. We looked at records including two people’s care plans and medication records to see if people were receiving care which kept them safe. We looked at two staff files including a review of the provider’s recruitment process. We sampled training plans and quality assurance records to see how the provider assessed and monitored the quality and safety of the service.

Updated 18 February 2017

This inspection took place on 19 December 2016 and was announced. This was the services first inspection since the service had moved to a new office location. SENSE- Supported Living Services provides services for people with hearing and sight impairments and who require support with personal care. Three people were using the service when we inspected.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People told us that they felt safe. Staff had a good knowledge of current safeguarding practice and how to apply this knowledge to their role of supporting people in the service. Risks to people had been identified and minimised wherever possible. We saw that there were sufficient staff available to meet people’s requests for support. Most people did not need support with their medicines. Where support was needed we saw that medicines were managed safely.

People were supported to make choices and where it was determined that they may lack the capacity to make specific decisions appropriate support was given. Staff were working in line with the Mental Capacity Act (2005).

People told us they felt cared for. Care was planned with each person and people were able to state what activities or support they wanted. Care was reviewed with the person to ensure the care provided was still meeting people’s needs.

Staff had a good knowledge of the people they were supporting and told us they enjoyed supporting people. People had been involved in the recruiting of staff who had similar interests to them.

The service had supported people to be as independent as possible in all aspects of their lives. People had retained their independence in meal planning and preparation and in participating in activities of their choice. People and their relatives were aware of how to raise concerns or make complaints.

Staff felt valued and supported in their role and had opportunity to feedback or make suggestions for the running of the service. Staff told us they had sufficient training to carry out their role effectively and we saw that training on key areas of care occurred regularly.

People and their relatives were happy with how the service was managed. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service which included seeking feedback from the people who used the service. The registered manager had plans of how they wanted to improve the service to make it more effective for the people accessing support and for the staff team.