Orbital 4 Support Limited

Updated 29 August 2019

The inspection

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

Inspection team

This inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in a number of ‘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 used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

This service is also registered with CQC as a domiciliary care agency. Domiciliary care agencies provide personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. Orbital 4 Support Limited were not supporting any people through their domiciliary care agency registration at the time of the inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission, who was also the registered provider. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.'

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced and took place on 25 July 2019. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection site visit to ensure the registered manager would be present and to ensure people's consent was gained for us to contact them for their feedback.

What we did before the inspection

Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used information the provider sent to us in the Provider Information return (PIR). We looked at information we held about the service, including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders, for example, the local authority and members of the public. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people using the service to ask about their experience of care. We spoke with three care staff, the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, accidents and incidents, minutes of staff meetings and quality surveys, were reviewed.

After the inspection

We spoke with two relatives to ask their views on the care provided to their family members.

Updated 29 August 2019

About the service

Orbital 4 Support Limited is a supported living service providing personal care. There were 13 people receiving support from staff at the time of our inspection.

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

People’s rights were promoted by staff. The registered manager understood how to support people and to guide staff, so decisions could be taken in people’s best interests, where this was appropriate.

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 relatives told us staff were considerate and care was provided in a sensitive way, so people’s right to dignity and privacy was met. People enjoyed telling staff about their lives, and staff were interested and attentive. Staff spoke warmly about the people they supported, and assisted people to make their own decisions about their care.

Staff had received training and developed the skills they needed to assist people. People were supported to see health professionals and to have enough to eat and drink, so they remained well.

People’s care needs had been assessed, planned and regularly reviewed. Staff used their knowledge of what was important to people and tailored the support provided so people’s well-being enhanced. People understood how to raise any concerns and complaints and were confident these would be listened to.

Staff had been supported to understand how to care for people at the end of their lives, so their wishes would be respected.

People told us they could rely on staff to provide the care agreed and there were enough staff to provide care at the times they wanted. People were supported by staff who understood the risks to their safety and who supported them to reduce risks, whilst promoting their choices. Staff knew how to identify concerns, such as abuse, or people becoming anxious, and understood how to protect people. The registered manager checked people received safe care.

People and relatives were positive about the way the service was managed. The registered manager sought people's views and experiences as part of their quality assurance processes. Staff were encouraged to reflect on the care provided so improvements to the service would be driven through.

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 30 December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Orbital 4 Support Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.