All inspections: Assisted Living South West

We informed the service of our visit, at short notice on 7th January 2014. We found that that the service provided specialised care to people with disabilities and complex care needs, which included physical and learning disability, challenging behaviours and Autism.

Services, provided in people's home and in the local community were person centred and tailored to meet individual needs.

We met one person who received the service and spoke with two others. We also spoke with a family member, three members of care staff, two managers and the Registered Manager, who assisted with the inspection.

Many of the people supported by the service had limited verbal skills. We observed how people communicated and noted how staff interpreted gestures and mannerisms in behaviours which ascertained a person's wishes.

We examined six care plans, developed after a detailed needs and risk assessment. We noted the high input from other professionals, which demonstrated that the service worked in collaboration with other agencies and ensured that appropriate safe care was provided.

Staff we spoke with, told us, they felt well equipped and trained to work with people with complex care needs. A relative we spoke with said 'staff were well trained and had oodles of experience'.

The company had taken a rigorous approach to internal audits of the service which ensured a high quality service, although there were no formally recorded mechanisms to monitor external feedback.

At our previous inspection on 21 August 2012, we raised concerns with the provider Assisted Living South West Limited about the systems in place for monitoring the quality of people's care records and risk assessments. This was in relation to three people's records seen. We also raised concerns about how the provider responded to any Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) disclosures for existing staff or new applicants. We carried out a desk top review to follow up what improvements were made to address these areas of concern. We did not speak to anyone using the service. On the 16 October 2012, the provider sent us written information which we looked at. This demonstrated to us that the required improvements had been made.

We (the Care Quality Commission) carried out an unannounced inspection to the headquarters of Assisted Living South West Limited on 21 August 2012. We spoke to six people who used the service and one relative and looked at care records for five people. We visited one supported living setting and met with the four people who lived there and the staff on duty. We spoke to 15 staff who worked at the agency which included two company directors, one of which was the registered manager, office based staff and care workers. We looked at training records and at five staff records.

We found that people were well supported by skilled staff that were knowledgeable about people's care needs and treated people with dignity and respect. People we spoke with told us they were very satisfied with the service provided. One person said the care workers who visited them were reliable and helpful and told us how they took on extra tasks to help out such as collecting their prescription. A second person told us how much they valued a care worker helping them to deal with their post each week. A third person told us how staff had supported them to buy a new car and transported them whenever they want to go out.

Staff we spoke with told us the agency ensured people had a good quality of life and how they were supported to make choices and to be as independent as possible. All staff we spoke to told us they felt well supported by their managers and had good opportunities for training and development.

We identified some inconsistencies in the quality of two people's care records and two staff records, all of which did not include enough information about areas of risk to fully protect people's safety and welfare.

The provider was compliant with four of the five outcomes we inspected.

Archived: Assisted Living South West

All Inspections

9 January 2014

During a routine inspection

During a check to make sure that the improvements required had been made

20 August 2012

During a routine inspection