About the service:

Attaining Independence is a domiciliary care and ‘Supported Living Service’ that provides personal care and support to people with a learning disability or a mental health condition in their own homes. At the time of our visit they were supporting six people who owned their own individual homes.

People’s experience of using this service:

People supported by the service told us the registered manager and staff who supported them were polite, caring and promoted their independence. They also commented on how professional in their approach to their work was. One said, “I don’t know where I would be without them. They are so kind and treat me so well.”

People who used Attaining Independence had their support plan devised in partnership with them. People felt consulted and listened to about how they were supported.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People we spoke with confirmed this.

The service worked in partnership with healthcare professionals and families to ensure people’s health care needs were met. People were supported to attend healthcare appointments to ensure their health and wellbeing was maintained.

There had not been any safeguarding incidents or complaints since the last inspection. However, policies and procedures were in place and the registered manager understood the actions to take should there be any incidents.

During the inspection visit people told us staff were kind and attentive towards them. They said they were caring, patient and respectful. One person said, “I don’t know where I would be without them. They are so kind and treat me so well.”

People supported by the service told us they were treated with respect and by caring staff.

People told us and staff confirmed to us there were enough staff on duty to ensure people received care in a timely way. In addition, sufficient staff were deployed so that people had opportunity to access a wide range of activities including access to the local community settings.

Staff responsible for assisting people with their medicines had received training to ensure they had the competency and skills required.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people. These had been kept under review and were relevant to the care provided.

The registered provider and the registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. This enabled Attaining Independence to be monitored and improve systems and processes that were identified through their quality monitoring programme.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Report published 12 April 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: The next scheduled inspection will be in keeping with the overall rating. We will continue to monitor information we receive from and about the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive concerning information about the service.

This inspection took place on 17 February 2016 and was announced as Attaining Independence is a Supported Living Service that provides personal care and support to people with a learning disability or a mental health condition in their own homes. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a small supported living care service and we needed to ensure the provider had care records available for review had we required them. At the time of our visit they were supporting two people.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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.

Staff knew how to recognise potential signs of abuse and how to raise concerns should they need to. Risks to people had been assessed and measures had been put in place to reduce the risk to the person. Staff had received training to enable them to provide safe and effective care to meet the needs of the people they were supporting.

People received their medication safely. Information was available to staff about how to support people with their medicines and all staff had been trained in how to administer medication and checks were carried out to ensure people had received their prescribed medicines safely.

We saw that safe recruitment and induction processes were in place to ensure there were enough staff employed who were suitable to support the people who used the service.

The registered manager and staff we spoke with were knowledgeable of and acted in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). Staff we spoke with told us how they sought consent from people before supporting them. Staff spoke enthusiastically about the people they were supporting and had a good knowledge of the person’s likes and dislikes.

We saw that people were supported to remain as independent as possible. We saw examples of how staff supported people on a daily basis to retain their independence and how they helped people to achieve their aspirations and goals. People we spoke with said that they had control of their own lives.

There was a complaints procedure in place, although no formal complaints had been raised in the last twelve months. Where concerns were raised we saw that the registered manager had acted promptly and taken action. There were effective systems in place for monitoring the quality and safety of the service.

Staff supported people to maintain a healthy lifestyle where this was part of their support plan. People told us staff supported them with their food shopping and assisted them with the preparation and cooking of their meals. People were supported to access the local community and they told us they were taking part in activities that they enjoyed and wanted to do.

The management and staff had a clear understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and how to make sure people who did not have the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves had their legal rights protected.