About the service: MacIntyre Worcestershire Supported Living is a supported living provider supporting people with a learning disability or autistic condition in their own homes. At the time of the inspection they were supporting 22 people in multiple locations around Worcestershire.

People’s experience of using this service:

People using the service benefitted from outstanding care, delivered in a manner which was personal to them and based on their assessed needs. People we spoke with praised both the care workers and the management of the service for the delivery of high quality of care. We spoke with nine people and two relatives, the majority of whom told us they were exceptionally happy with the support they received, described the service as superb and said they would highly recommend the provider to other people. One person told us, “The best thing about living here is everything.”

People told us they felt safe when being supported with care and said all the support staff worked in a way that respected their privacy and dignity. They told us they looked on staff as friends and we observed them to be very happy and relaxed in staff company. The service had a culture of supporting people to live their own lives to the best of their ability. This ethos was infused throughout the service. Staff told us they felt valued by the organisation and said MacIntyre Worcestershire Supported Living was the best company they had worked for. One care worker told us, “This company has been the best company to work for. They empower the guys and put in place strategies to achieve this.”

Staff and managers described how workers often went beyond their scheduled duties, supporting people outside their normal working hours, enabling them to attend events and taking them on holiday. People told us the service would take on the responsibility of arranging and liaising with outside services. People were involved in decisions about their own care but also in helping to run and direct the service. The provider had a strong user voice group who had made a demonstrable improvement to the running of the service and the quality of support.

Staff told us they were very happy working for the service. They confirmed they could access a range of training and development opportunities and were well supported by senior staff in the organisation. They felt there was an extremely positive culture in the organisation and felt valued. The registered manager was proactive about visiting and checking all the locations in the service. A range of substantive quality audits were undertaken.

More information about the service is contained in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: Good (The date the last report was published was 16 February 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on previous rating. The service had moved from good to outstanding.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with schedule for those services rated as outstanding.

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

This inspection took place on 6 and 8 January 2016 and was announced.

McIntyre Worcestershire Supported Living provides personal care for people in their own home. There were 30 people using the service when we inspected and there was a registered manager 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

All people and relatives felt the care staff provided care that was safe and had no concerns about their welfare. Care staff spent 24 hours a day in some people’s home and provided an overnight service. People had then access to care staff at night if needed. People told us they felt safe when the care staff were with them.

Care staff knew what they would do if they felt a person was at risk of potential abuse and felt confident that any report incidents would be addressed. People had their individual risks assessed and which the care staff knew how to respond to monitor and manage them. There were enough care staff when people needed them in their home at the arranged times day and night. Staff provided people with their medicines and recorded when they had received them.

All people and relatives that we spoke with felt that the care staff were knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities. Care staff told us they received regular training and supervisions that help them provide care to people they supported.

People were involved in making decisions about their care and their consent was appropriately obtained by staff when caring for them. People who could not make decisions for themselves were supported to make a decision in their best interest. Care plans detailed what support people needed and provide guidance for care staff on how best to meet the care people wished to receive. People were supported to make their meals or cares staff prepared them where needed. People were involved in planning their meals which included their favourite choices. Healthcare appointments were arranged for people and care staff had helped to arrange transport or went with them.

People told us they liked the care staff and their care needs were supported well. They also felt encouraged to be involved in their lives and choices and were happy that their dignity and privacy was respected. People spoke with us about the registered manager being accessible and provided examples of how the manager had supported them when they had queries or concerns.

Everyone we spoke with felt the registered manager and the management team were available to talk with and would listen and act of any feedback provided on the service. The management team had kept their knowledge current with support from the provider and external professionals. The staffing team felt the provider and management team and they led by example and that they regularly checked on the quality of the care that people received. The registered manager had developed a clear plan of improvements and were working towards achieving these throughout the year.