This inspection took place on 16 and 18 December 2014. It was an announced visit to the service.
High Wycombe Supported Living is a newly-registered service and combines two of the provider’s former services, Cressex Supported Living and Desborough Supported Living. It provides support to 44 adults with learning disabilities across five sites. The service had a registered manager in post. 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
We received positive feedback about the service. Comments from people included “I know when staff are coming to support me and they always come, “Staff are tremendous” and “I like (name of manager), she’s nice.” A social care professional said the service was very client-focussed and the registered manager was very committed to change and improvement. Relatives were happy with standards of care and complimentary of how the service is managed. Comments included “The manager is absolutely excellent, first class” and “(Name of manager) is so amazing and enthusiastic.”
There were safeguarding procedures and training on abuse to provide staff with the skills and knowledge to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. Risk was managed well at the service so that people could be as independent as possible. Written risk assessments had been prepared to reduce the likelihood of injury or harm to people during the provision of their care. People’s medicines were handled safely and given to them in accordance with their prescriptions.
We found there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. They were recruited using robust procedures to make sure people were supported by staff with the right skills and attributes. Staff received appropriate support through a structured induction, regular supervision and an annual appraisal of their performance. There was an on-going training programme to provide and update staff on safe ways of working.
Care plans had been written, to document people’s needs and their preferences for how they wished to be supported. These had been kept up to date to reflect changes in people’s needs. The service listened to people’s views, such as when recruiting staff. People were supported to take part in a wide range of social activities, access the local community and have holidays. Staff supported people to attend healthcare appointments to keep healthy and well.
There had not been any complaints about the service. People knew how to raise any concerns and were relaxed when speaking with staff and the registered manager.
The service was managed well. The provider regularly checked quality of care at the service through visits and audits. These showed the service was performing well. The registered manager was skilled and experienced and was assisted by a team of senior staff. There were clear visions and values for how the service should operate and staff promoted these. For example, people told us they were treated with dignity and respect and we saw they were given choices. Records were maintained to a good standard and staff had access to policies and procedures to guide their practice.