Swanton Community Service Suffolk

Updated 19 July 2023

The inspection

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 8 ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 22 June 2023 when we visited the service. It ended on the 3 July 2023 when we had a face to face meeting to give feedback via a video call with the registered manager.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed our systems and information we held about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with this service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 person who used the service, the registered manager and 3 staff members.

We reviewed the care records for 1 person including their risk assessments and medication records. We looked at 3 staff recruitment records. We also viewed some of the provider’s policies and procedures, training data, quality assurance records, management monitoring and oversight records.

Updated 19 July 2023

About the service

Swanton Community Service Suffolk is a supported living service providing care for up to 8 adults, living with long term mental health conditions. Supported living is housing where people have individual tenancies and where support and/ or care services are provided to assist people to live as independently as possible. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive a regulated activity of personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. At the time of the inspection 1 person received the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were supported by kind and caring staff who respected their privacy and dignity. Risks to people had been assessed and were managed safely. Staff had a good knowledge of people’s individual needs including any risks with their health and wellbeing.

People were supported by a care team who were safely recruited, received relevant training, and knew how to protect them from potential harm.

Staff adhered to infection prevention and control procedures in line with legislative requirements and recognised best practice guidelines.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Governance systems were in place to oversee the safety and quality of the service. There was an open culture of listening to people and positively learning from events so similar incidents were not repeated. The registered manager worked in partnership with other stakeholders to support continual development within the service and to raise awareness of the needs of people living with mental health conditions within the local community.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The service was registered with us on 24 December 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.