Summerland Support

Updated 24 May 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type: This service is a supported living service. It provides personal care to people living in rented accommodation across five houses, and a small outreach service. Enabling services are also provided, but these were not included in this inspection, as they do not fall under the regulated activity.

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.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service two days’ notice of the inspection site visit because the service is small, and we needed to be sure there would be someone in the office to support the inspection.

We visited the service on 23 April 2019 to see the registered manager, speak with staff, spend time with people using the service and to review care records, policies and procedures. The registered manager sent us some information by email and we also received an email from a staff member about their experience of working for the service.

What we did:

As part of the inspection we spent time with nine people who received care or support from the service, including people receiving personal care . We spoke with the registered manager, administrator and four members of support staff. We looked at three people’s care records. We looked at three staff files including training and recruitment procedures. We looked at policies and procedures and the registered manager sent us several other documents by email. We looked at how medicines were administered with a staff member and person living at the service. We also spoke with two people’s relatives by telephone after the inspection and contacted the local authority quality improvement team.

Updated 24 May 2019

About the service:

Summerland Support provides care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ settings, so they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate the premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. At the time of our inspection 32 people were living across the five houses, and five other people were being supported through an outreach service. Of the people being supported three were receiving personal care, which is the regulated activity CQC registers and inspects. Other people were supported through an enabling role, which is not required to be registered, so was not reviewed on this inspection.

The service supports people with different needs and backgrounds. These included people with learning disabilities, some physical disabilities, mental health needs, autism spectrum disorders and people who have behaviours that may challenge themselves or others.

People’s experience of using this service:

People and their relatives spoke highly of the service they received from Summerland Support. The service had strong person-centred values and placed people’s wellbeing at the heart of their work. People received personalised support which met their needs and preferences.

We found some people had restrictions in place, which were aimed at ensuring their safety. The registered manager agreed they would discuss one person’s capacity with the supporting community team to ensure the person’s rights were being protected.

People were involved in making decisions about the planning and delivery of their support and this was done in a way which encouraged their independence. Some people lived significantly independent lives, other people needed more support and had individualised care for much of the time. People living at the service were supported to follow activities of their choice, as well as develop life skills such as budgeting and cooking. The service had a football team which competed in a local league, which people enjoyed.

Staff knew people well and worked hard to enable them to share their views, make choices and live active lives. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support. This meant people were based in and were involved with their local community, and people’s support was focused on them having as many opportunities and choices as possible.

Risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing were assessed and acted upon. People were protected from potential abuse by staff who were confident in raising concerns. There was a thorough recruitment process in place that checked potential staff were safe to work with people who may be vulnerable.

People were supported by kind and caring staff who worked hard to promote their independence and sense of wellbeing. People and relatives told us the staff team was “brilliant”. Staff were provided with the training, supervision and support they needed to care for people well.

There was strong leadership at the service. People, relatives and staff spoke highly of the management team and there was a positive culture at the service. People were able to make changes both to their care and the service overall.

There were effective quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided.

More information is in the full report

Rating at last inspection: This service was last inspected on 5 and 6 October 2016 and was rated good overall and in every key question. The report was published 8 November 2016.

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection and was based on the previous rating.

Follow up: Going forward, we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect inline with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated as good. We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about the service. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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