Background to this inspection
Updated
17 December 2015
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 12 and 13 August 2015 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice as it is a domiciliary service and we needed to be sure people would be available. The visit was undertaken by an adult social care inspector.
Before the inspection 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 send us within required timescales. We also contacted commissioners of the service for any feedback.
During the visit we spoke with seven staff including the registered manager, and four people who used the service. We spoke with two external social care professionals who had regular contact with the service. We visited, with consent, one house where two people who used the service lived.
Five care records were reviewed as was the staff training planner. We also reviewed four staff recruitment/induction/supervision and training files, and staff meeting minutes. The registered manager’s action planning process was reviewed and discussed with them as was learning from accidents and incidents.
Updated
17 December 2015
This was an announced inspection which took place over two days, 12 and 13 August 2015. The last inspection took place in April 2013. At that time, the service was meeting the regulations in force at the time.
Aspire Supported Living is registered with the Care Quality Commission for the regulated activity of personal care. It provides a domiciliary service to 18 people who live in their own homes across the Northumberland, North Tyneside and Gateshead areas. The people who use the service have a learning disability and mental health needs, particularly around managing their behaviours.
Aspire Supported Living has had a registered manager since November 2012. 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.
We found that people’s care was delivered safely and in a way of their choosing. They were supported in a manner that reflected their wishes and supported them to remain as independent as possible. Staff worked with other care professionals when ‘best interest’ decisions had to be made on behalf of people using the service.
People’s medicines were managed well. People were supported to manage their own medicines if they wished with staff support.
Staff felt they were well trained and encouraged to look for ways to improve their work. Staff felt valued and this was reflected in the way they talked about the service, their local managers and the people they worked with.
People who used the service were happy with the way the staff supported them. They felt they knew each other well and that staff were caring and interested in their wellbeing.
There were high levels of contact between the staff and people using the service. Staff sought feedback and offered support as people’s needs changed. People felt able to raise any questions or concerns and said these would be acted upon.
When people’s needs changed staff took action, seeking external professional help and incorporating any changes into care plans and their working practices. Staff worked to support people’s long term relationships and kept them involved in activities that mattered to them, or develop new interests. External professionals thought that staff were open and transparent with them about issues and sought their advice and input regularly.
The local managers were seen as good leaders, by both staff and people using the service. They were trusted and had created a strong sense of commitment to meeting people’s diverse needs and supporting staff.