At our last inspection in November 2015, the service was rated 'Good'. At this inspection, the service continued to be good.

SoLO Life opportunities is a charity which supports adults and children with a learning disability to access social and leisure activities. The personal assistance service provides personal care to both adults and children. There were 65 people using the service at the time of this inspection and 14 people were in receipt of the regulated activity personal care.

The inspection site visit took place on 15 October 2018 and was announced.

A requirement of the service's registration is that they have a registered manager. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. A registered manager was in post.

People's relatives felt their family members were safe. Personal assistants completed safeguarding training and procedures were in place to protect people from harm. Personal assistants knew how to manage known risks and risk management plans provided them with the information they needed to provide care and support to people in the safest possible way.

Personal assistants received training to administer people’s medicines safely however, they did not administer people’s medicines on a regular basis. Detailed medicine protocols were in place to ensure people received their medicines when they needed them.

Staff continued to be recruited safely. Enough personal assistants were employed to meet people's needs. People's care and support was provided by consistent workers at the times people expected for the correct length of time.

People were assisted to eat and drink if this support was required. Personal assistants understood their responsibilities in relation to infection control and knew what action to take in the event of an emergency. A system to record any accidents and incidents that occurred was in place.

Personal assistants received an induction when they had started work at the service. They provided positive feedback about their training, they had the skills and knowledge they needed to meet people’s needs.

The provider was working within the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

Relatives were complimentary about the care provided and personal assistants spoke warmly about people. People were supported to be independent, they were treated with dignity and their right to privacy was respected.

Before anyone received their care and support from SoLO an assessment of their needs was undertaken. Care records we reviewed were up to date and showed the inclusion of people and their families.

Relatives felt communication between them and the service was good and information was shared with personal assistants to help them to provide the care people needed.

The management team and personal assistants understood the importance of promoting equality and human rights and the importance of keeping people's personal information confidential.

People received information about the service in a way they could understand and a system was in place to manage complaints about the service provided.

Relatives felt the service was well led and they spoke positively about the provider’s management team. Personal assistants had a clear understanding of their roles and felt supported by their managers.

The provider continued to involve people in the planning and running of the service and welcomed feedback from people and their families on the service they received.

Systems to monitor, assess and improve the quality and saf

We carried out this inspection on 20 November 2015 and it was announced.

SoLO Life Opportunities is a charity which supports adults and children with a learning disability to access social and leisure activities. The regulated Personal Assistant service provides one to one support for 35 people either in their own homes or in the community. At the time of our visit the service had three people who received personal care support.

The personal assistant service had a registered manager. 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. A registered manager had been in place since 2011.

Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe using the service. Staff had a good understanding of what constituted abuse and knew what actions to take if they had any concerns.

Checks were carried out prior to staff starting work to ensure their suitability to work with people who used the service. Staff received an induction to the organisation and completed a programme of training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively.

Care plans contained information for personal assistants (care staff) to help them provide personalised care to people. Staff knew about processes to minimise risks to people’s safety, as staff providing care were consistent, however, these were not always documented, so we could not be sure people would be supported safely.

People did not receive regular medicine from staff. Records did not always show how people should receive this to make sure it was administered as prescribed.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and how to support people with decision making.

People who required support had enough to eat and drink during the day and were assisted to manage their health needs.

People had personal assistants they were familiar with, who were flexible and completed the required tasks. There were enough staff to care for people they supported.

Relatives told us personal assistants were kind and caring and had the right skills and experience to provide the care their family member required. People were supported with dignity and respect.

People knew how to complain and could share their views and opinions about the service they received. Personal assistants felt they could raise any concerns or issues with the management team and they would be listened to and their concerns acted upon.

There were some processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, including surveys. There were other checks which ensured staff worked in accordance with policies and procedures.