We carried out a review of the data available to us about Northants Accommodation and Social Care on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Northants Accommodation and Social Care, you can give feedback on this service.
Northants Accommodation and Social Care provides accommodation and personal care for up to five people who live in self-contained flats and access the community independently. At the time of inspection there were four people using the service.
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
Staff understood their roles and responsibilities to safeguard people from the risk of harm. People were supported to access relevant health and social care professionals.
Staff supported some people to take their medicine. The registered manager recognised the importance of making clear records to ensure this was documented. People’s risks were assessed at regular intervals or as their needs changed. Care plans informed staff how to provide care that mitigated these known risks.
People received care from staff they knew. Staff had a good understanding of people's needs, choices and preferences. People were encouraged to make decisions about how their care was provided and their privacy and dignity were protected and promoted. Staff gained people's consent before providing personal care.
People were involved in the planning of their care which was person centred and updated regularly. People were supported to express themselves, their views were acknowledged and acted upon. There was a complaints system in place and people were confident that any complaints would be responded to appropriately.
Staff were recruited using safe recruitment practices. Staff received training to enable them to meet people’s needs and were supported to carry out their roles.
The management team monitored the quality of the service, identifying issues and making changes to improve the care provided.
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.
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 7 July 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.
This inspection took place on 20 June 2017 and was unannounced.
Northants accommodation and social care provides accommodation and personal care to up to 5 people who live within self-contained flats, and access the community independently. The service was staffed at all times. At the time of our inspection the provider confirmed they were providing care to 4 people. At the last inspection, in May 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found that the service remained Good.
People continued to receive safe care. Staff were recruited appropriately and there were enough staff to meet the needs of the people living at the service. People were consistently protected from the risk of harm and received their prescribed medicines safely.
The care that people received continued to be effective. Staff were well supported with supervision, training and on-going professional development that they required to work effectively in their roles. Health and nutrition was monitored and people received the support they required within this area.
People were well cared for and were treated with dignity and respect at all times. We saw that care plans had been written in a personalised manner and enabled staff to provide consistent care and support in line with people's personal preferences. People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and the provider had implemented effective systems to manage any complaints that they may receive.
The service was well run and had a positive ethos and an open culture. Staff told us that they had confidence in the manager's ability to provide consistently high quality managerial oversight and leadership.
This unannounced inspection took place on the 6 and 7 May 2015.
Northants Accommodation and Social Care accommodate and provide personal care for up to five adults with a range of personal care needs. There were three people in residence during this inspection.
A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 assured that staff had been appropriately recruited. Recruitment procedures were robust and protected people from being supported by staff that were unsuited to the job. There were sufficient numbers of staff that had the skills they needed to provide people with safe care and support.
People’s care plans were individualised and reflected the support they needed and that had been agreed with them. They benefited from receiving care from staff that listened to them and acted upon what they said. Staff encouraged and enabled people to retain as much independence as their capabilities allowed. Appropriate risk assessments related to people’s support needs were in place and were acted upon by staff.
People’s healthcare needs were met. They had routine and ‘as needed’ access to a wide range of community based health professionals. Community based healthcare professionals were appropriately consulted, and their advice and prescribed treatments acted upon, to help sustain people’s health and wellbeing.
People said they received the support they needed to ensure they participated in cooking their meals and planned their shopping with staff support. They said they ate well and independently enjoyed their choice of meals. People were guided by staff on eating a healthy diet. Meals suited people’s individual preferences and tastes.
People were independently able to manage their own medicines with staff support when this was assessed as necessary such as, for example, reminding and prompting. People were provided with suitable secure storage in their accommodation and, where appropriate, staff monitored people’s medicines to ensure they were self-administering prescribed medicines in a timely way. Suitable arrangements were in place for the disposal of discontinued medicines.
People’s quality of care was effectively monitored by the audits regularly conducted by the registered manager and the provider.
People knew how and who to complain to. They were assured that they would be listened to and that appropriate remedial action would be taken to try to resolve matters to their satisfaction.
We found that people's care plans did not contain sufficient information about the support that people required and we found that appropriate checks had not been completed on staff before they commenced employment. We found that suitable arrangements were in place to handle safeguarding concerns and the provider obtained people's feedback about the service. We also found that complaints were handled appropriately.