Archived: Advance Housing and Support

We observed care staff providing support to the people we visited. Staff interacted well with all the people they supported. People who used the service and the care staff obviously knew each other well. Staff told us this helped to ensure they supported people in the way they preferred. One of the support workers we spoke with told us: "The project runs smoothly, consistency in care and approach is important for our clients'.

There were effective recruitment and selection processes in place. The registered manager described a thorough and robust recruitment process and we saw records that confirmed this.

The provider regularly audited the service they provided and produced an action plan to address any shortfalls. We found that incidents were analysed to identify any trends and appropriate changes were put in place to minimise any future risks.

We spoke to one relative who told us that they could visit at anytime. They said that staff were really good, and that when they visited they always found the house clean and tidy, and the person busy doing activities. Another relative told us that staff supported the person to visit their family. Both relatives told us that they had the level of contact with the provider that they needed.

The provider had a clear safeguarding policy in place. Staff we spoke to told us that they had received training, and knew what to look for and what action to take if abuse was suspected. The relatives we spoke to told us that they knew how to raise concerns.

Staff we spoke to told us that they were happy with the training and support that they had received. We saw that staff had had regular supervision sessions with the manager. However a number of training gaps were identified. We saw that training sessions had been booked.

The manager had completed a quality audit in January 2013. We found that no action plan had been put in place to address the issues identified.