Background to this inspection
Updated
22 September 2015
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.
The inspection was announced and was carried out on the 23 July 2015 by one inspector.
We told the registered manager two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the registered manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service.
Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also spoke with the local authority, who has a quality monitoring and commissioning role with the service.
During the inspection we visited two of the four houses supported by the service and spoke with the four people who lived there. We also visited a person in their own home and spoke with five support workers, the deputy manager and the registered manager.
We reviewed the care records of three people who used the service, three staff files and other records relating to the management of the service.
Updated
22 September 2015
This inspection took place on the 23 July and was announced.
Autism Care Community Services (Milton Keynes) is a supported living and domiciliary care service which provides care and support to people who may have a range of care needs. These include learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorders.
At the time of this inspection the service was supporting 21 people across four separate houses and people living in their own homes.
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 felt safe and staff had been provided with training to recognise the signs of potential abuse of harm. We found that the outcome from safeguarding alerts was discussed with staff to minimise the risk of recurrence.
There were processes in place to manage identifiable risks and to ensure people’s freedom was not restricted unnecessarily.
There were sufficient numbers of staff employed with the right skills and knowledge to meet people’s assessed needs and to promote their safety.
Recruitment checks were carried out on new staff to ensure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.
There were systems in place to ensure people received their medicines appropriately and at the prescribed times.
Staff had been provided with the appropriate training to carry out their roles and responsibilities.
The service worked to the key principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. When required capacity assessments were undertaken if it was found that people could not make decisions about their care and support.
People chose what they wished to eat and drink; and staff supported them with food shopping and cooking.
People were registered with a GP of their choice and if required had access to health care facilities.
Staff treated people with kindness and compassion. They were enabled to express their views and their privacy and dignity were promoted.
People’s needs were assessed to ensure that the service could appropriately meet their needs.
There was a complaints procedure which was written in an appropriate format to enable people to raise concerns if they needed to.
There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the care provided, which was used to drive continuous improvements.