Avalon Harrogate Services

Updated 26 July 2018

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

This comprehensive inspection took place on 29 and 30 May 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be at the office to speak with us. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the information included in the PIR along with information we held about the service, for example, statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

We reviewed three staff files, staff time sheets, policies and procedures, compliments and complaints, incident and accident monitoring systems, meeting minutes, training records and surveys completed by the service. We looked at three people's care records, these included care plans, risk assessments and daily notes. Following the inspection, we asked the provider to send us more information about audits. The provider sent the information to CQC in a timely manner.

We spoke with five people who used the service, the registered manager, two service managers, the training manager, three support workers, spoke with a shared lives carer, and the policy and projects officer. Following the inspection, we spoke with a health and social care professional and a worker from an organisation that supports people with activities.

Updated 26 July 2018

This inspection took place on 29 and 30 May 2018 and was announced.

Avalon Harrogate Services provides personal care and support to people who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. Some of the people who use the service are also living with dementia. Some people who receive support live in small supported living services which are staffed according to assessed needs. Other people live in a family setting with a main carer. This is called shared lives. The aim of the service is to support people to live independently. The service was supporting 15 people at the time of our inspection. For the purposes of this report the term ‘staff’ refers to supported living workers as well as shared lives carers.

Not everyone using Avalon Harrogate Services receives regulated activity; 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 consider any wider social care provided.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

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.

People were supported by staff who understood the risks they faced and how to support them to reduce these. People were protected from harm by staff that recognised the signs of abuse and were confident to raise concerns.

There was enough staff to safely provide care and support. Safe recruitment processes helped to prevent unsuitable staff working with people who needed support. Staff received regular supervision and training which supported them in their roles.

Personalised care plans and risk assessments were in place. The care and support people received was person centred. Staff were kind and treated people with dignity and respect and their independence was promoted. They were sensitive to people's needs regarding equality, diversity and their human rights, as their choices and preferences were respected. People were encouraged and supported to lead full and active lives in their homes and in the community.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

The service was well-led and there were effective quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service people received. Feedback systems were in place where the views of people and relatives were sought. People were given information on how to raise a complaint should they choose to do so.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.