We inspected this service on 19 January 2017 and the inspection was announced. We gave the provider one weeks’ notice of the inspection so that we could arrange to speak with people who used the service and with staff. They were last inspected in October 2013 and were fully compliant against the standards we reviewed.

The family support service provides care and support to young people aged from 0 to 17 in their own homes. There is a service called The Getaway which provides short breaks for young people from the office base but this aspect of the service did not form part of this inspection because it is registered with another regulator. At the time of our inspection one person received support from the service.

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.

Care was planned and agreed with the people using the service and their relatives. The provider understood their responsibilities to ensure that consent to care was given. Reviews of care were planned and people and their relatives were confident that they could raise concerns or speak with staff and managers at any time.

Risks to people’s wellbeing was assessed and plans were put in place to reduce this to support them safely. Staff had the training and support that they needed to do their jobs well and people’s relatives felt that the care and support was safe. Staff developed caring relationships with people and ensured that they were respected.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs safely and people were supported by regular staff that they knew well. There were safe recruitment procedures in place to ensure that they were safe to work with people. .

There was an open culture where people's relatives and staff said that managers were approachable and helpful. The manager was developing systems to monitor quality and drive improvement.

There were 13 children and younger adults using The Getaway outreach service.

We spoke with three young people before they left to take part in their planned activities in the community. We spoke with and listened to a group of staff and the manager of the service. We spoke with four parents.

One parent told us, “Going to The Getaway allows my child to be more independent. They are able to socialise with other young people who may have health needs in common with their own. As a parent it allows me to have a short break from direct care”.

Another parent told us they received regular feed back about how their young person was getting on at The Getaway each time they visited. One parent told us they did not feel they got the support and feedback they expected, although their young person seemed to enjoy going there. One parent told us about their young person’s dietary needs. They told us care workers attended to their young person’s needs well.

Parents told us their young person received one to one attention by care workers. They said this was good as it ensured the level of supervision needed was being provided. Parents told us when they visited they usually received feedback from the care workers on how their young person was managing as part of their care provision.