Keele Drive

Keele Drive provides care and support to people living in a 'supported living' setting, so 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. 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. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 39 people, 5 of whom required support with personal care.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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

Right support

Staff focused on people's strengths and promoted what they could do. Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests in the local area. People were supported to maintain a safe and clean environment that met their sensory and physical needs. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making.

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.

Right care

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people's privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. People received care that supported their needs and aspirations and followed best practice. Staff and people cooperated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

Right culture

People were empowered because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management team and staff. People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate and empowering care that was tailored to their needs. Staff placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 6 September 2018).

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.

Keele Drive provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, so 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. The service comprises of a community of eleven houses, ten of which had four bedrooms and the other, two. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 39 people, not all of whom required assistance with personal care. Only one person was being supported with personal care at the time of the inspection.

Risks with in the service were recorded, monitored and reviewed. The provider had a safeguarding policy in place and any issues had been dealt with appropriately.

Sufficient staff were employed to support people’s personal care needs. Staff told us they worked as a team and supported one another. Appropriate recruitment systems continued to be operated.

Medicines in the service continued to be managed and monitored appropriately. Staff had received training on the safe handling of medicines. The person was supported to maintain their properties in a clean and tidy manner.

The individual's needs were assessed and care delivered in line with these needs. Staff had undertaken a range of training and had sufficient skills and experience to support people with individual care. The person told us staff supported them to have a healthy diet.

The service was working within the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The individual was supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice The service was aware family members had an active lasting power of attorney. The service was working with the housing association to ensure the home environment best supported people’s needs.

The person told us they were happy with the staff and the support they received. Staff were committed to ensuring people they supported received good quality and personal support. They had good knowledge about the individual's backgrounds and care needs. The person told us they were supported to make day to day decisions about their care. Questionnaires completed by people who used the service were extremely positive about the support they received.

The person's privacy and dignity were respected. Staff spoke knowledgably about how they promoted and encouraged people’s independence.

Care records contained information that supported staff to deliver person centred care that met the individual’s needs. Care was reviewed and the individual was involved in reviewing their care needs. As far as practical they were supported to access a range of events and activities, both within the service and outside. There had been no recent formal complaints about the service.

The person and staff spoke highly of the registered manager who they felt had the needs of people who used the service as her constant focus. Staff said the registered manager was approachable and offered good support and knowledge.

Staff questionnaire responses were extremely positive and they told us there was a strong and stable staff team at the service.

Regular audits and checks were in place to monitor the quality of the service. The service worked in partnership with a number of outside and local agencies. The service was meeting legal requirements by displaying the current quality rating and submitting notifications to the Commission.

We spoke with three people to find out their opinion of the service. In addition, we spoke with a team manager from the local authority care management team.

Before people received any care or treatment they were asked for their consent and the provider acted in accordance with their wishes.

People informed us that they were happy living at Keele Drive. They explained that they visited the GP and had received their annual health check. Two people informed us they accessed the GP independently. We found that people's needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their individual care plans.

People who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening.

There were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people's needs.

People who used the service, their representatives and staff were asked for their views about their care and treatment and they were acted on.