Ryedale Special Families

Updated 23 May 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 checked 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.

Inspection site visit activity started on 6 March 2018 and finished on 20 March 2018. It included visits to the provider’s office location and telephone calls to parents and relatives of people who used the service and staff. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of the inspection site visits because we needed to make sure someone would be available at the office location.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

As part of planning our inspection, we contacted the local Healthwatch and local authority safeguarding and quality performance teams to obtain their views about the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer group, which gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We reviewed information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to tell us about within required timescales.

The provider had complete a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We use this information to help plan the inspection.

During the inspection, we reviewed a range of records. These included four people's care records containing care planning documentation, daily notes and medicine records. We looked at three staff files relating to their recruitment, supervision, appraisal and training. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service and a wide variety of policies and procedures.

During the inspection process, we spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager. We also spoke with five parents and relatives of people who used the service to gain their views on the service provided. We were unable to speak with people who used the service due to their communication needs.

Updated 23 May 2018

Ryedale Special Families is a domiciliary care agency. They provide personal care support to children and young adults who have a learning disability or autism spectrum disorder or physical disability sensory loss, who live in the community in and around the Malton area.

Inspection site visit activity started on 6 March 2018 and finished on 20 March 2018 and was announced. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing support to 34 people.

Ryedale Special Families is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation(CIO) and was developed in 1990 by families of children with a learning disability. They were previously registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at Welburn Hall School, near Kirbymoorside before moving to their current location. Following this, there was a change in the charity organisation, and in April 2017 they re-registered with CQC, therefore this was the first inspection of the service.

There was a manager in post who had registered with the Care Quality Commission. They assisted throughout the inspection process.

Safe recruitment processes had been followed. Staff had received appropriate safeguarding training and were familiar with the process they needed to follow if they had any concerns. Assessments had been completed when any risks were identified and these were regularly reviewed with input from parents. Staff had received medicines training and provided effective support in this area. All staff were provided with personal protective equipment to promote good infection control practices.

New staff completed an induction when they joined the service and parents were able to meet new staff before they began to deliver support. People were supported by a regular team of competent staff who had completed extensive training, specific to the needs of people they were supporting. Staff received supported through a regular system of supervisions and team meetings.

Staff were aware of the Mental Capacity Act (2005), which would be applicable for some of the older people. However, staff were not responsible for the general welfare of the children or the younger people who lived with their parents or guardians.

Staff had good working relationships with other health professionals and organisations within the local community. Staff were aware of who to contact if they needed professional advice or guidance and this was sourced in a timely manner.

Parents told us, without exception, that people were well cared for. Staff demonstrated a positive regard for what was important and mattered to people and their relatives. Staff and parents were clear the main aim of the service and support provided was to help people to have an excellent quality of life whilst promoting positive risk taking.

Parents confirmed they were actively involved in the planning of people’s care. Care plans had been developed which were person-centred and focused on the person as an individual. Parents complemented the commitment of staff and the amount of involvement they had in people’s care. There was a complaints policy in place which people and parents received when they joined the service. Parents told us they knew how to make a complaint.

Staff told us the registered manager was approachable, responsive and listened to any ideas for areas of improvement. Staff and parent were asked to provide feedback on the service and were confident any concerns raised would be promptly addressed.

The registered manager utilised a number of quality assurance tools to ensure people were receiving good quality care and support.