Employ My Ability (EMA)

Employ My Ability (EMA) provides care and support to people with learning disabilities and autistic people who live in their own homes. It is registered to provide personal care. At the time of the inspection the service was delivering personal care to 4 people. People lived in shared houses in rural locations near Dorchester. EMA also runs a day opportunities service and supported employment near to the majority of the houses. Where staff slept in to ensure people were safe overnight, they had a private space to do so in people’s spare rooms. Staff did not have allocated space that people could not access in their homes.

In 'supported living' settings 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.

CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

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

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.

Right Support

People told us, and showed us, they felt safe. They were protected from harm because staff were trained to recognise signs of abuse and knew who to report this to if they had concerns.

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. Restrictions were identified by staff and actions were taken to reduce these.

People were supported by staff who understood the specific risks they faced and how to reduce these risks these without being restrictive.

Staff focussed on people’s strengths and interests, this meant people had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday lives and opportunities to develop new interests.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The service had faced the same challenges as other providers due to the national shortage of care workers and this meant some staff worked long hours. Staff were supported to reduce the risks associated with working long hours and recruitment was ongoing.

The service had a robust recruitment and selection process and worked to ensure people were supported by staff matched to their needs and preferences.

Staff enabled people to access appropriate health care and to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Medicines were managed safely by staff who had received the relevant training and competency assessments. Medicines records were audited, and appropriate action taken if mistakes had been made. Improvements were made to the administration of ‘as and when’ medicine during our inspection.

Right Care

Accidents and incidents were appropriately reported and reviewed by senior staff. Analysis was carried out to determine any themes and trends. Lessons learnt were shared with all staff to help prevent a recurrence.

We were assured by the service’s processes to prevent and control infection.

Staff were respectful. They understood people’s individual needs and provided appropriate care and support.

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff valued and respected the person/people they worked with, and this meant they respected people’s privacy and dignity.

Staff knew people well and spoke confidently about people’s needs. Support plans reflected people’s individual needs.

Right Culture

Staff told us they felt supported, and part of a strong team committed to ensuring the people they supported lived lives they chose. Staff spoke positively about the senior team including the provider/owners.

Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people. People’s views informed this process alongside feedback from staff, families, professionals and a range of audits and monitoring tools.

People’s quality of life was enhanced by the service’s culture of ongoing improvement and the values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. The management structure had been altered to support the organisation’s ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 5 April 2022 and this is the first inspection.

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.