Background to this inspection
Updated
22 February 2020
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.
The inspection was undertaken by one inspector on the 10 and 14 January 2020.
Ategi is a Shared lives service registered to provide personal care to people living with a Shared lives carer in a family environment. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 10 people with long or short term placements.
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.
We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to ensure a registered manager would be present to facilitate the inspection.
Prior to the inspection we looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked on this occasion 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.
During the inspection we visited the office and spoke with the registered manager, regional manager and an office member of staff. We visited two people and their shared lives carers and gained feedback from two others as part of the inspection. We gained feedback from two health care professionals as well as two parents. We also reviewed four people’s care plans, policies and procedures, recruitment records, training records and quality assurance audit tools.
Updated
22 February 2020
About the service
Ategi South Gloucestershire Share Lives is registered to provide personal care for adults who may have dementia, a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health need, physical, sensory, eating disorder and for older people. Placements are made on a short or long-term basis, including respite and a holiday service, with people living with their carer in their home as part of the family. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
Throughout the report the term shared lives carer relates to the care worker who supports the person receiving care and support.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received support that was person centred and reflected people’s individual needs. People gained skills, in managing money, domestic tasks, cooking and accessing the community. People gained experience volunteering which was building their confidence and skills towards paid employment. The service was committed to ensuring people were not socially isolated.
People were fully involved in making decisions relating to their care and support needs. Time was taken so that people and their Shared lives carer could get to know one another before people and their carer made a decision about the placement.
The service had robust systems in place to ensure Shared Lives Carers were supported, trained and who had checks undertaken to work with vulnerable adults. Shared lives carers knew people well and they were able to demonstrate a good understanding of promoting independence, encouraging choice and control and developing people to move on to independent living.
The registered manager was accessible and approachable and all people, shared lives carers and health care professionals felt the culture of the service was positive. Shared lives carers demonstrated a kind and caring approach and they spoke about people in an inclusive respectful manner.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and shared lives carers supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection; This service was registered with us on 04/01/2019 and this is their first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the registration of the service.