Creative Support - Northampton Services

Updated 14 December 2022

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care and a supported living service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and people are often out, and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us. We also needed to be sure the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 14 November 2022 and ended on 16 November 2022. We visited the location’s office on 14 November 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people receiving care from the service and 1 relative about their experience of the care and support received from the service. We spoke the registered manager, the service director, the support coordinator a team leader and 2 support workers.

We reviewed 5 people’s care records and medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment, supervision and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 14 December 2022

About the service

Creative Support Northampton Services is a domiciliary care service providing the regulated activity of personal care in people’s own homes and supported living settings. At the time of our inspection 2 people were receiving personal care in their own homes and 3 people were receiving personal care in a supported living setting.

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

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.

Right Support

People using the service had a good quality of life. They told us they were happy with the support they received from the staff who fully supported them to lead fulfilling lives. Personalised risk assessments gave clear strategies for staff to follow in keeping people safe, whilst enabling people to be as independent as possible. People were involved in managing risks and in taking decisions about how to keep safe.

Staff were skilled in recognising signs when people experienced emotional distress and knew how to support people to keep them safe. Effective systems were in place to closely monitor incidents and prompt action was taken to mitigate the risk of repeat incidents. 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. People were supported to understand their rights and explore meaningful relationships. People knew how to raise concerns and were confident they would be dealt with properly.

Right Care

The registered manager and staff team ensured people had full access to healthcare services. People’s support plans were personalised, and people were supported to express their individuality. The staff team were caring and dedicated to the people they supported.

People told us staff were friendly and caring. People had the opportunity to try new experiences, develop new skills and gain independence. Staff supported people to pursue educational and leisure interests. A relative said, “Nothing is ever too much, they deserve to get praise for everything they do.”

Right culture

The culture of the service was warm and caring and the registered manager and staff valued the people they supported and knew them well. The service promoted a culture of inclusion, diversity and equality. Staff received training on equality and diversity that was embedded in supporting people’s protected characteristics. People were supported to follow their cultural beliefs.

The registered manager had the specialist skills, knowledge and experience to perform their role and had a clear understanding of people’s needs. Systems and processes were in place and effective in continually assessing, monitoring and driving improvement of the service. A range of scheduled quality audits took place to continually monitor all aspects of the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

This service was registered with us on 04 December 2019 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was Good published on 29 November 2017.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Creative Support - Northampton Services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.