Archived: Choice Support Aylesbury

Updated 9 June 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 28 March 2017, and the 3 and 18 April 2017 and it was announced. We provided 48 hours' notice of the inspection to ensure management were available at the office to facilitate our inspection. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

We had asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR), which is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This was completed by the provider and returned on the 11 January 2017. We also looked at other information we held about the service from statutory notifications of events that the provider is required by law to submit to the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Prior to the inspection we sent out questionnaires to people using the service, their representatives, staff and community professionals and analysed the responses received. During the inspection we visited five people living in supported living accommodation based in Aylesbury. The people using the service had complex learning disabilities that affected their ability to communicate verbally with us, the staff supported people to express their views about the service to us.

We spoke with the registered manager, one support manager, one team leader, four care staff, one agency carer and two relatives. We reviewed the support plans, risk assessments and other associated care records for three people using the service. We also looked at three staff recruitment files and records regarding the staff training and support, and records in relation to the management oversight of the service.

Updated 9 June 2017

Choice Support Aylesbury is registered to provide personal care to people with learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder living in supported living accommodation and outreach. At the time of the inspection 24 people were using the service.

At the last inspection on 30 June 2015 the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found that the service remained Good.

The 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People using the service continued to receive safe care. Robust staff recruitment procedures were followed. The staffing levels met people’s needs. People were protected from the risk of harm and received their prescribed medicines safely.

People using the service continued to receive effective care. People received care from staff that had the appropriate knowledge and skills to meet their needs, and they were supported to maintain good health and nutrition. Staff were provided with a thorough induction and on-going training. They had attended a variety of training to ensure they were able to provide care that was based on current practice, when supporting people with behaviour that challenged the service. Staff received regular supervision and appraisal from their allocated supervisors.

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.

People using the service continued to receive care that respected their individuality. People were treated with kindness, compassion, dignity and empowered to be involved in making decisions about their lives. The staff respected people’s diversity, and knew the people who used the service well. People and relatives, where appropriate, were involved in the planning of their care and support. People had personalised plans of care in place to enable staff to provide consistent support in line with their preferences. People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and the provider had effective systems in place to manage complaints.

People benefitted from using a service that had a positive, person centred ethos and an open culture. People, their relatives and staff had confidence in the manager’s ability to provide consistent high quality managerial oversight and leadership. Established quality monitoring systems were used to drive continuous improvement.