Sense- Community Services and Supported Living Services (North)

Sense Community Services and Supported Living Services (North) is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in supported living services in Rotherham and Sheffield. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people using the service.

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

Risks associated with people’s care had not always been documented to ensure staff followed steps to keep people safe. The registered manager took timely action to ensure assessments were completed for all risks. People predominantly received their medicines as prescribed, however, we found some minor discrepancies which were addressed following our inspection.

Accidents and incidents were monitored and analysed to mitigate future occurrences. 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 had access to outside space, and this had been designed to meet their needs. People were supported to maintain a clean environment with assistance from the staff team.

Right Care

People received support from staff who knew them well and understood their needs and considered their preferences. Staff interacted well with people and had a caring and respectful approach.

We found healthcare professionals had been referred to appropriately and staff ensured their advice was followed.

Right Culture

Overarching governance systems included a series of audits which checked areas such as medication management, infection control and care planning. Action plans were used to develop and improve the service. However, some issues identified during the inspection had not previously been highlighted. Management systems needed to be strengthened to ensure consistency throughout all supported living services.

People were supported to lead lives that were person-centred and inclusive. People were involved in planning their support and deciding how they wanted to support them to meet their outcomes and achieve their goals.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 29 September 2021 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was requires improvement published on 20 September 2019.

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to regulation 12 safe care and treatment at this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.