Glenelg Support Limited

Glenelg Support Limited is a supported living service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supports people who have a learning disability, physical disability and/or mental health needs. At the time of our inspection the service supported 81 people living in their own homes.

People lived in a variety of domestic-style properties, which were based within the local communities, in keeping with other neighbouring properties and had access to local amenities and transport. People shared the communal parts of their homes, such as living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms and all had their own bedrooms.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

People said they felt safe and happy being supported by staff. One person commented, “I’m happy where I’m living, I can talk to the staff, I trust them and they listen to me.” People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and the service had engaged with the people it supported to help them understand what safeguarding is and take an active role in this area.

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.

People and their relatives gave us positive feedback about the staff at the service. One person said, “[The staff] are all kind and wonderful. The staff understand me and my needs, they support me with everything, they’re like my family.” Staff clearly knew the people they supported well and people were comfortable and happy with the staff supporting them.

People’s care plans were person-centred, detailed, regularly reviewed and gave staff the information they need to safely and effectively support people. People were supported to access their local community and to pursue their hobbies, interests and job opportunities.

There was a positive, caring and person-centred culture amongst the staff at the service. The service valued people’s views and experiences and used their feedback to help develop the service.

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 23 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Glenelg Support Ltd is registered to provide a domiciliary care to people who have learning disabilities and complex needs in their own homes.

A registered manager was 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.

Everyone we spoke with said they felt safe with the support being provided by Glenelg. In addition, staff we spoke with were clearly able to explain the course of action that they would take if they felt someone was being harmed or abused, and how they would report it, including whistleblowing to external organisations.

Risk assessments were clear, concise and explained the impact of the risk as well as how the staff should support the person to manage it. Risk assessments were regularly reviewed with the input of the people who used the service and their families.

Staff were recruited safely and checks were carried out on staff before they started work at the service to ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable people. There were enough staff employed by the service to provide safe and consistent support to people. Staff told us they had their rotas in advance, and knew the people they supported well. We observed this when we visited people.

Medicines were well recorded and managed for people who required support. Assessments were completed to support people with their medication needs. We saw the service’s process for storing medication when we visited some people in their homes.

Incidents and accidents were analysed and each incident and accident was recorded in people’s care files including any remedial action that had been taken as a result and any emerging patterns or trends identified.

Staff and managers followed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to ensure that people’s rights were protected where they were unable to make decisions for themselves. Staff understood the importance of gaining consent from people and the principles of best interest decisions. Routine choices such as preferred daily routines and level of support from staff for personal care were acknowledged and respected.

Staff were trained in a range of subjects in accordance with the provider’s training policy and the staff’s training and development needs. This was identified according to which person the staff member was supporting, and what specific training they would need. Staff told us they felt the training was of good quality and they were able to request additional training when they felt they needed it. Staff told us training was discussed with them as part of their supervision. Staff were supported to complete an induction and there were shadow shift opportunities so people using the service and staff could get to know each other.

People were supported with their nutrition and hydration needs. Staff kept records relating to peoples eating and drinking and people were involved in the preparation of their own meals with staff support.

Staff were caring towards people. People and their relatives told us they felt the staff were caring and we observed kind and familiar interactions between staff and people and who used the service.

There was exceptional emphasis on person centred care and support for people. Person centred means that the service was tailored to fit around the needs of the individual and not the needs of the organisation. We saw numerous examples and spoke to people and families who confirmed that person centred care and support was a continuous theme within the service. People were creatively supported to be independent and were encouraged to be in control of their own lives.

A positive feature of Glenelg support was their ability to ‘train’ people to become more independent by using ‘active support’ plans which were constantly reviewed. There were examples of where this type of support had positive impacts on people, which meant that they were doing things for themselves which they had never done before.

Communication care plans for people with limited verbal communication were written by staff who knew people well. These plans had taken the staff team a long time to compile, however, we saw the benefits for people using the service who had these plans. For example, staff knew how the people communicated and understood what their own signs and gestures meant. This meant that staff could support them more effectively and incidents of anxiety were minimised.

Support plans contained a high level of personalised detail, and were written in a way which both emphasised the person’s likes and preferences and their dignity. Support plans were reviewed regularly with the input of the person, their family and the staff at Glenelg. Changes were made to care plans to ensure the most current and up to date care plans were always available to the staff team.

There was a complaints procedure in place. All complaints had been investigated in line with the provider’s policy, and everyone we spoke with said they knew how to complain and felt the service would listen to them.

The culture of the service was friendly, caring and positive. Everyone in the office was cheerful and clearly happy to work at the service, we also saw this level of positivity extended to the staff working with people in their homes. The registered manager clearly led by example, and was very much involved in getting to know the people who used the service. They were passionate and enjoyed their role.

Everyone we spoke with said they liked the provider, who was also the owner of the company, and registered manager. In addition, people and their families told us that the provider was well known for holding ‘forums’ for a question and answer session with relatives, people who used the service, and the staff.

Quality assurance systems were robust and highlighted any potential areas of improvement within the organisation. There were audits in place for medication, support planning training and other operational areas. Actions were followed through in a timely way.

Feedback was gathered regularly from the people who used the service and their family members to help the service celebrate what they do well and what they need to improve in other areas.