We inspected the service on 16 March 2016. The inspection was announced to ensure there was someone available at the office. Our last inspection of this service took place in June 2014. The service was found to be compliant with all of the legal requirements inspected at that time.
Ambler Way Support Services is a specialist supported living and domiciliary care service for adults with learning disabilities. The main office is based in Haworth. Most people who use the service live in private houses with other people with a learning disability within a five mile radius of the main office. The service provides personal care and support so that people with a learning disability are enabled to live in the local community and lead a full life. At the time of our inspection there were 40 people receiving personal care. In addition to personal care, a range of other services are also provided such as support to do shopping, gain qualifications and access community groups and services.
The registered manager has been in post for several years. 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.
We concluded that the people who used the service were at the heart of every aspect of the organisation. Staff actively sought opportunities to involve and empower people to make key decisions and ensured the service continually evolved to meet their changing needs.
The registered manager was passionate about delivering person centred care and enabling people with learning disabilities to achieve their full potential. Staff at all levels of the organisation demonstrated they were committed to delivering the collaborative, inclusive and innovative philosophy of care which the registered manager promoted.
People were involved in making decisions about every aspect their care and daily routine. Staff adopted different communication techniques to ensure everyone who used the service had a strong voice. Staff used the feedback people provided to deliver individualised care and shape improvements to how care was delivered.
People were in charge of planning their own menus and were encouraged to cook and prepare their meals. Staff adopted an innovative approach to help educate and encourage people to consume a healthy diet such as encouraging every person to develop their own individualised healthy eating pledge.
Staff had developed strong working relationships with health and social care professionals and worked in partnership with them to ensure consistently positive outcomes for people’s health and wellbeing.
Staff received a comprehensive programme of mandatory, specialist and accredited training which ensured they had the skills required to care for people. The registered manager used creative ways to ensure staff understood their training. Staff received an annual 360 appraisal where feedback was provided by people they supported, peers and outside agencies. This demonstrated that the opinions of the people who used the service were valued.
Staff were confident in how the key principals of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) applied to their role and how they helped to ensure people’s human and legal rights were respected on a day to day basis. They used creative ways to ensure people were involved in making decisions. They accessed alternative communication methods to ensure everyone had a voice and were enabled to express their views.
Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were being effectively assessed, monitored and managed. The provider had appropriate arrangements in place to help protect people from the risk of abuse.
Sufficient staff were employed to ensure people’s individual care needs were met. Care rotas were realistically planned to ensure people received consistency of care and support at the times they needed it most.
Staff ensured that people were supported to take their medicines in a safe and person centred way. The registered manager was in the process of reviewing the protocols for ‘as required’ PRN medicines to ensure they were more robust.
The feedback we received from people who used the service, relatives and health and social care professionals consistently told us the standard of care delivered was excellent. Staff had developed strong links with health and social care professionals, community services and key local contacts and worked in partnership with them to ensure a high quality and inclusive service provision.
Staff treated people with respect, privacy and dignity and encouraged people to express what dignified care meant for them. People were empowered to develop their independent living skills and staff actively encouraged people to set and achieve future life goals. We saw examples where people no longer needed to use the service because staff had nurtured their independence.
The registered manager promoted an open and honest staff culture. They had a positive attitude towards complaints and saw them as an opportunity to learn and improve. Staff were responsive and flexible in their approach to resolving issues and responded to people with empathy and understanding. Staff actively sought opportunities to learn, develop and improve the service. This meant continuous improvement was a key feature of the service.
There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided. The quality assurance systems were inclusive and the key driver for improvement was always the views, preferences and needs of people who used the service.