Silver Tree Home Support Community Interest Company

People’s experience of using this service: People and their relatives felt safe using this service. They told us they trusted staff who respected their choices and preferences.

Pre-employment checks were carried out before staff began working in the service. Staff were supported using induction and supervision. They were trained a range of topics to meet people’s needs including medicines administration and food hygiene. Further support was provided by the registered manager via an on-call service to ensure staff had back up support when required.

People were protected from harm by staff who understood safeguarding. Staff told us they felt confident reporting concerns to the registered manager and believed actions would be taken to protect people. People’s personal risks had been identified and steps put in place to minimise those risks.

The provider had systems in place to monitor the service including accidents and complaints. There had been no accidents or complaints since our last inspection.

Partnership working with relatives and other professionals meant people’s care needs were effectively met. There were enough staff employed by the service to meet people’s needs.

Staff provided appropriate support to people and did not discriminate against them. Staff from differing ethnic and religious backgrounds told us they felt comfortable working in the service. Contractual arrangements were in place with a national children’s charity to provide staff to support children and young people with disabilities.

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

The service continues to be well-led. People and their relatives were complimentary about the registered manager. The service had recently received external recognition for the safe and secure use of people’s information.

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

Rating at last inspection: Good (Last report published December 2016.)

Why we inspected: This inspection was carried out in line with our inspection scheduling.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive and discussions with partner agencies.

We inspected this service on 30 November 2016. This was an announced inspection and we telephoned the week prior to our inspection in order to arrange home visits and telephone interviews with people. This was the first inspection since the service registered in October 2014.

The company is based in Hanley, Stoke on Trent. It provides care and support to children, adults and older people and offering a variety of person centred support services. The company provides support to individuals with a variety of health conditions such as dementia, learning and or physical disability autistic spectrum and or mental health conditions. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 34 people, however only five of these people received a regulated activity. Care providers in England need to ensure they meet the fundamental standards, which reflect a set of regulations established under the Care Act 2014.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People were protected from harm and staff had received training to know how to record and report any concerns. Risk assessments had been completed and, when required, guidance provided to support staff to reduce any risks. There were sufficient staff to support people and people’s preferences had been considered. People had been recruited to ensure they were safe to work with people. When required, staff knew how to support people with their medicines.

Staff received training to support their role and the needs of the person requesting the service. Staff had an induction which ensured a level of support with the skills required. People were given choices and their consent was obtained. At the time of the inspection people did not receive support with their meals; however staff understood the importance of giving choice and ensuring a level of nutrition. When required health care professionals had been consulted to support people’s needs.

People told us they had positive relationships with staff and that the manager had considered their needs when allocating staff to support them. People’s privacy and dignity was supported and people’s independence encouraged.

The care plans reflected people’s preferences and the level of support they required. We saw any changes had been recorded. The service had not received any complaints; however people felt confident in raising any concerns.

Staff felt supported by the manager and they received regular support to develop their role. People had been consulted about the care they receive and any concerns acted upon. The manager had a range of audits they used to reflect the service quality and safety.