New Key

Updated 9 June 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 team consisted of 1 inspector and 1 Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 29 ‘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

We gave a short period of notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

Inspection activity started on 9 March and ended on 14 March. We visited the location’s office on 10 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with 4 people who used the service as well as visiting people and observing care. We spoke with the registered manager, provider and 5 staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 10 people's care records, medicine records and a variety of records relating to the management of the service including audits, meetings, policies and procedures. We also looked at 4 recruitment and supervision files.

Updated 9 June 2023

About the service

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.

New Key provides care and support to people living in a number of 'supported living' settings in Torquay, Totnes and Kingskerswell, so that they can live in their own home 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 is registered to provide support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic and who may have care needs around their physical disability or sensory impairment. At the time of the inspection 64 people were using the service

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

Right Support: People received exceptional care because staff and the management team were passionate about providing people with high quality person centred care that placed people's goals and aspirations at the very heart of the service they provided. Staff worked with people continuously to improve the quality of their life and promote their well-being.

The provider, registered manager and staff were extremely passionate and committed to making a positive difference to people's lives. People received support from a dedicated team of staff who had been specifically recruited and trained to work with individuals, staff had worked in the service for many years and had built relationships and a level of trust with people which was extraordinary. Staff continuously looked for ways to enhance the quality of people's lives.

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. Staff demonstrated they understood people's diverse needs and respected their equality such as age, disability and gender.

Right Care: The provider, registered manager and staff team were passionate about people's well-being and went above and beyond to help people achieve their goals and aspirations by building their confidence and breaking down barriers to increase independence. Relatives and professionals described how people received excellent personalised care and support that was tailored to peoples needs and preferences.

People were supported to express their views and opinions in various ways. People had different ways of communicating and staff understood how best to share information for people to make their own choices and decisions. The service had facilitated people to participate in numerous activities and interests which enhanced their quality of life.

Right Culture: The registered manager and provider were visible and exceptionally supportive to both people and staff. They were instrumental in continually developing the service to meet people's needs. The culture of the service was extremely friendly, open and transparent where people's and staff voices were listened to in order to continually improve the quality of care. Auditing systems were in place that enabled the registered manager to have effective and responsive oversight of the service and the care delivery which enabled them to identify any improvements needed.

Lessons were learnt when things did not go well and any complaints, incidents, accidents and safeguarding's were investigated and responded to and shared to continually improve the service provided and prevent reoccurrence.

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 11 January 2018).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. However, we identified exceptional practices in relation to the providers approach to person centred care, so a decision was made to include the key question of responsive.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to outstanding. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for New Key on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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