SENSE Community Services (South West) is registered to provide the regulated activity of personal care to people in their own homes.

There were two distinct services provided. A Communicator Guide Service for people with a dual sensory loss and, an Intervenor Service for congenitally deafblind children, adults and their families.

At the time of this inspection people using the communicator guide service were not receiving personal care. Therefore their support does not come within the remit of our inspection. At the time of this inspection four children were using the intervenor service and receiving personal care. It is the care and support received by them that was inspected and is reported on in this report. Staff providing this service were called ‘intervenors’. We have used this term when referring to staff directly providing the service throughout our report.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and took place on 8 November 2017. We gave the provider 48 hours' notice of the inspection to ensure people we needed to speak with were available.

We previously inspected this service on 16 and 19 August 2016. At that inspection we rated the service overall as Requires Improvement. We also identified two breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We told the provider to send us an action plan detailing the improvements they would make.

As a result of this inspection we have rated the service as Good. We found the provider had made the improvements detailed in their action plan and, we found there were no breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Overall, we found the children received person centred care and support from skilled and motivated intervenors that were well managed.

There was a registered manager in post at the service. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider. 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.

The registered manager and intervenors followed procedures which reduced the risk of the children being harmed. Staff understood what constituted abuse and what action they should take if they suspected this had occurred. There was enough staff to safely provide the care and support detailed in care plans. Checks were carried out on all staff before they started work with people to assess their suitability. Where assistance with medicines was required this was well managed.

Intervenors were highly skilled and had the knowledge, skills and abilities they needed to carry out their roles effectively. They received regular supervision and the training needed to meet the needs of the children and their families.

The children were cared for and supported by intervenors who knew them well. Intervenors and managers treated the children and their families with dignity and respect. The care and support provided was person centred. Each child had detailed care plans and individual risk assessments in place. Children and their families were at the centre of all decision making about the service and encouraged to express their views and opinions.

The vision, values and culture of the service were clearly communicated and understood by staff, relatives and others. The registered manager demonstrated excellent communication skills, provided good leadership and management and, received effective support from the provider to assist with this. An effective quality assurance system was in place. This meant the safety and quality of service received was monitored on a regular basis and where shortfalls were identified they were acted upon.