Archived: Aspirations Southeast Adults

Updated 11 January 2017

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 inspection took place between the 29 November and 5 December 2016. This inspection was announced. The registered provider was given 24 hours' notice because we needed to be sure that someone would be at the office to support with the inspection.

Two adult social care inspectors carried out the inspection. During our inspection, we visited the office and we also visited people in one of the supportive living houses. We observed how the staff interacted with people and spent time observing the support and care provided to help us understand their experiences of living in the service.

During the inspection, we visited three people in their own homes and observed the support they received from staff. We spoke with four people that use the service, three family members, and ten members of staff. We also spoke to Head of Quality for Aspirations and the office manager. We looked at care records for six people, recruitment records for eight members of staff and other records pertaining to the management of the service.

Updated 11 January 2017

Aspirations Southeast Adults is a domiciliary care service providing 24-hour cover within supported living settings. The service supports people with learning disabilities, complex mental health problems, behavioural needs, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. At the time of the inspection there were 42 people being supported.

The service did not have a registered manager in post as the registered manager had left the service. An interim manager was supporting the service and plans were in place for one of the senior team to register as the manager.

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.

The provider’s system of audits and checks was not picking up shortfalls in staff supervision and competencies.

Staff told us that they felt supported and they could talk to the managers at any time. Records showed that staff members had supervision meetings with their line manager in which they could raise any issues they had and where their performance was discussed, although these did not occur. on a regular basis.

Care records contained detailed and personalised information around people’s care needs. This meant that staff had access to relevant and accurate information on how they should support people. It was not always clear if this information had been reviewed or whether people or their relatives had been involved in reviews.

Where staff were supporting people with complex behavioural needs risk assessments were in place, which provided staff with information around how to keep people safe. Risk assessments were reviewed regularly to ensure information remained up to date.

Staffing levels were consistent with the hours allocated to people by the local authority. Where the manager felt that people needed additional support they had referred to the local authority for a review. Accidents and incidents were monitored and appropriate action had been taken to ensure people's safety was maintained. These actions included referrals to health professionals and the local authority for support.

Recruitment processes were robust and helped to ensure that staff were suitable to work with vulnerable adults. New staff had completed an induction, which included a period of shadowing experienced members of staff, and completing training in core subjects such as moving and handling, safeguarding and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Staff were kind and caring towards people. They had a good knowledge of people's needs and how they liked to be supported. People's family members commented positively on the support their relatives received from staff.

The registered provider had a complaints policy in place. People's relatives told us that they would feel confident making a complaint if they needed to.