We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. About the service
Grace Eyre Choices Sussex is a 'supported living service' providing personal care to people in supported living schemes, so that people can live in their own homes as independently as possible. They also provide outreach support to people who do not live in supported living schemes. The service provides support to people with a range of health and social care needs, including those with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection, 61 people were receiving personal care. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support: The service were exceptional at getting to know people’s needs, wishes and preferences to ensure support was catered to each individual. Staff used innovative ways to ensure people were supported to live as independently as possible. People were provided with a choice in their day-to-day decision-making and families were involved where they wished to be involved. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People's risks in relation to their care were managed, this included understanding and taking positive risks to encourage people's independence and supporting them to achieve their personal goals. There were sufficient staff to support people safely and people told us they felt confident staff knew what they are doing. We were assured that the service were following good infection prevention and control procedures to keep people safe. External professionals told us that staff worked well with them to achieve positive outcomes for people.
Right Care: People and their relatives told us they felt supported by staff in a kind, caring and dignified way. Promoting respect and dignity was at the heart of Grace Eyre’s practice. People's differences were respected by staff and they had undertaken relevant training to effectively support people. This included training for learning disability and autism awareness. People told us that the care was consistent, and staff knew them well. Staff supported people to maintain relationships that were important to them. People's right to privacy was respected and staff encouraged people to provide feedback about the care provided.
Care plans were person-centred and included information on people's healthcare needs, preferences and social history. People were supported to enjoy the diet of their choice, including cooking for themselves and staff encouraged them to ensure they had sufficient fluids to drink. People had individual goals and objectives which were regularly reviewed by staff.
Right Culture: The culture of the service was open, inclusive and empowered people to live independent lives where they were able. There was a strong ethos throughout the service that it was person-led and developed to be person-centred. People and their relatives were complimentary about the service and felt their ideas and concerns would be listened to by the registered managers and the provider. People told us they felt they could approach the management of the service with ideas and suggestions they had. Management had undertaken audits to look at ways of improving the service and identifying issues. Staff were complimentary about the approachability of both registered managers and the team leaders and told us they were able to raise concerns, and these would be dealt with appropriately.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
This service was registered a new address with us on 5 December 2019 and this is the first inspection at this location. The last rating for the service at the previous premises was good, published on 13 December 2018.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service because it had relocated to a new office since our previous inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.