About the service: MacIntyre Essex and Kent Support is a community based domiciliary adult social care service that offers shared lives and supported living services to people with learning disabilities and autism to live as independently as possible. Shared lives is an alternative to home care services and care homes for adults and older people with disabilities. Shared lives aims to enable people with a disability to experience ordinary life, rather than receive a service. Supported living is where people live independently in specifically designed or independent accommodation but need some help or support to do so. There were four supported living schemes with approximately 14 people that the service supported and approximately 50 people using the shared lives service at the time of our inspection. The accommodation is not registered with the CQC, the premises and related aspects were not inspected.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿ The service applied the values and principles of CQC guidance ‘Registering the Right Support’ (RRS). People were enabled to make choices about their lives and were supported to be as independent as possible. RRS guidance works to ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes including control, choice and independence.

¿ Relatives spoke positively about the service.

¿ The service had safeguarding and whistleblowing policies and procedures in place and staff had a clear understanding of these procedures and how to keep people safe.

¿ People's needs and preferences were assessed and plans were in place to manage risks safely in the least restrictive way possible.

¿ There were safe arrangements in place to manage medicines and staff followed appropriate infection control practices to prevent the spread of infections.

¿ Appropriate recruitment checks took place before staff started work and there were enough staff available to meet people’s needs.

¿ Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to support people appropriately. Staff were supported through induction, training and supervision.

¿ People were supported to maintain a healthy balanced diet.

¿ People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

¿ Relatives told us they were fully involved in and consulted about their loved one’s care and support needs.

¿ People had access to health and social care professionals when required.

¿ People were supported to access community services and to participate in activities of their choosing that met their needs.

¿ Staff worked with people to promote their rights and understood the Equality Act 2010 supporting people appropriately addressing any protected characteristics.

¿ There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service.

¿ The service worked in partnership with health and social care professionals and other organisations to plan and deliver an effective service.

¿ People knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy with the service.

¿ The service took people, their relatives and staff’s views into account through surveys and informal feedback to help drive service improvements.

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection of the service.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection in line with CQC regulations. We found the

service met the characteristics of Good in all areas.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit in line with our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect the service sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the website at www.cqc.org.uk