Aspire Support

Updated 22 February 2022

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency and supported living service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing. Where people received support 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.

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 inspection was announced.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us and that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 06 December 2021 and ended on 20 December 2021. We visited the office location on 09 December 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service and the provider, such as notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us. We sought feedback from the local authority. We also requested feedback from Healthwatch to obtain their views of the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the nominated individual who is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider, registered manager, human resources representative, community support leaders and care workers. We also spoke with two health professionals who work with the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 22 February 2022

About the service

Aspire Support is a service providing personal care to people in their own homes, some of which were supported living services. The service supports people with all types of needs. At the time of the inspection 266 people were supported.

Of the 266 people supported by Aspire Support 26 were living in a supported living type service where there were staff available 24 hours a day. Other people using this service were supported with arranged visits in their own home. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People told us they felt safe. Staff understood people’s needs and knew how to manage risks associated with their care. Staff were trained and understood how to keep people safe from abuse and avoidable harm. People received their medicines safely. Measures were in place to reduce the risk of the spread of infection. The provider ensured practices were in line with current guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

People received person-centred care which met their needs and preferences. People’s care continued to be reviewed with them and where appropriate their relatives ensuring care and support needs continued to be met. People were encouraged to be independent with preparing meals and drinks and were supported to have their nutritional needs met. Staff worked well with health professionals following any advice and guidance given.

Systems were in place to ensure any areas of improvement were identified and actions were taken to make any change so that people continued to receive good care.

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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence. People were supported to live as independently as possible. Staff supported people to make choices and to stay in contact with people important to them.

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People’s homes were respected by staff. People were supported to take part in activities of their choice. Staff were caring and spoke passionately of the people they supported.

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. People were treated with respect and were the focus and at the heart of everything. Staff knew the needs of people they supported and were passionate about achieving good outcomes for them.

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 07 August 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part by notification of a specific incident. Following which a person using the service died. The information CQC received about the incident indicated concerns about the management of people’s safety. This inspection examined those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe, effective and well-led sections of this report.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Aspire Support 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.