Attaining Independence

Updated 15 March 2019

The Inspection ¿ We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection team ¿ Consisted of an adult social care inspector.

Service and service type ¿ This domiciliary service provides personal care to people living in their own homes. In addition, they also can provide support for people living in 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 for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s care and support.

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 ¿ This comprehensive inspection visit took place on February 26th, 2019 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provided a domiciliary care service to people who lived in the community. We needed to be sure that we could access the office premises and speak with people.

What we did preparing for and carrying out this inspection ¿ Before our inspection we completed our planning tool and reviewed the information we held on the service. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people supported by the service and previous inspection reports.

We also checked to see if any information concerning the care and welfare of people supported by the service had been received. We contacted the local contracts commissioning department. This helped us to gain a balanced overview of what people experienced accessing the service.

As part of the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection visit we spoke with a range of people about Attaining Independence, they included three people who used the service, the registered manager and four staff members.

We looked at records relating to the management of the service. We did this to ensure the management team had oversight of the service and they could respond to any concerns highlighted or lead the agency in ongoing improvements. We also looked at staffing levels, training records and recruitment procedures for staff.

Updated 15 March 2019

About the service:

Attaining Independence is a domiciliary care and ‘Supported Living Service’ that provides personal care and support to people with a learning disability or a mental health condition in their own homes. At the time of our visit they were supporting six people who owned their own individual homes.

People’s experience of using this service:

People supported by the service told us the registered manager and staff who supported them were polite, caring and promoted their independence. They also commented on how professional in their approach to their work was. One said, “I don’t know where I would be without them. They are so kind and treat me so well.”

People who used Attaining Independence had their support plan devised in partnership with them. People felt consulted and listened to about how they were supported.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People we spoke with confirmed this.

The service worked in partnership with healthcare professionals and families to ensure people’s health care needs were met. People were supported to attend healthcare appointments to ensure their health and wellbeing was maintained.

There had not been any safeguarding incidents or complaints since the last inspection. However, policies and procedures were in place and the registered manager understood the actions to take should there be any incidents.

During the inspection visit people told us staff were kind and attentive towards them. They said they were caring, patient and respectful. One person said, “I don’t know where I would be without them. They are so kind and treat me so well.”

People supported by the service told us they were treated with respect and by caring staff.

People told us and staff confirmed to us there were enough staff on duty to ensure people received care in a timely way. In addition, sufficient staff were deployed so that people had opportunity to access a wide range of activities including access to the local community settings.

Staff responsible for assisting people with their medicines had received training to ensure they had the competency and skills required.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people. These had been kept under review and were relevant to the care provided.

The registered provider and the registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. This enabled Attaining Independence to be monitored and improve systems and processes that were identified through their quality monitoring programme.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Report published 12 April 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: The next scheduled inspection will be in keeping with the overall rating. We will continue to monitor information we receive from and about the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive concerning information about the service.