The inspection took place on 12 and 16 January 2018 and was announced to ensure that the management team and people using the service would be available during the inspection.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community and supported living homes. It provides a service to people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. The care agency has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

Wealden Community Support Service provided support to 47 people with a learning disability in the community. However, only three people received support with personal care which is a regulatory activity registered by CQC. In addition to the domiciliary care service there was also a supported living service for six people who received support under the regulated activity. This inspection focused on the care and support provided to the nine people where they received a service registered by CQC.

At the time of our inspection there was not 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. However, the operations manager had submitted an application to the CQC to register as manager.

People were kept safe from abuse and harm and staff knew how to report suspicions around abuse. Risks were minimised through the use of effective control measures. There were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to meet people’s needs and ensure their safety.

People received their medicines when they needed them from staff who had been trained and competency checked. Staff understood the best practice procedures for reducing the risk of infection; and audits were carried out to ensure the environment was clean and safe. The service used incidents, accidents and near misses to learn from mistakes and drive improvements.

People had effective assessments prior to a service being offered. This meant that care outcomes were planned for and staff understood what support each person required. Staff were trained in key areas and had the skills and knowledge to carry out their roles. Staff could request additional training and had been supervised effectively by their managers. People were supported to receive enough to eat and drink and staff used nationally recognised guidance to ensure people had a balanced diet and enough sustenance.

The service worked in collaboration with other professionals such as speech and language therapy and people’s GPs to ensure care was effectively delivered. People maintained good health and had access to health and social care professionals. Environments were risk assessed to ensure people were safe in their homes and staff could work without the risk of danger.

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. The principles of the Mental Capacity Act were being complied with and any restrictions were assessed to ensure they were lawful and the least restrictive option.

Staff treated people with kindness and compassion. Staff knew people’s needs well and people told us they liked and valued their staff. People and their relatives were consulted around their care and support and their views were acted upon. People’s dignity and privacy was respected and upheld and staff encouraged people to be as independent a