Somerset Support Services

Updated 19 October 2023

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 and 1 Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 'supported living' settings, their own homes and flats, so that they can live as independently as possible. In 'supported living' settings, 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 not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced.

Inspection activity started on 4 July 2023 and ended on 6 July 2023. We visited the location’s office on 4 July 2023.

What we did before the inspection

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 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 all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited 5 supported living services (where 7 people who received support with personal care lived). We spoke with 2 people who received support with personal care. We spoke with the Operations Manager and 4 staff. The Expert by Experience spoke with 6 relatives on the phone. We looked at a range of care and support plans and management documents relating to the service.

Updated 19 October 2023

Mencap Yeovil Support Service is a domiciliary care agency and supported living service. It provides personal care to people with learning disabilities and/or autistic people living in their own homes in the community. It also provides care and support to people living in 'supported living' accommodation, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting 7 people with their personal care needs in Somerset and Dorset.

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: The service had support plans and guidance in place but some important information was not always included. Recruitment processes were safe, and the provider was taking active steps to recruit and retain staff. The service supported people to have choice, control and independence. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs. Care was person centred and promoted choice and independence. People were supported to achieve positive outcomes. People were happy with the support they received.

Right Care: Staff were aware of the signs of abuse and they were aware of how to report any concerns through the appropriate channels. Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people.

Right Culture: The systems to monitor the quality of the service were not always fully effective in ensuring shortfalls were identified. The provider was working hard to improve their oversight and governance of the service. The values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. Staff understood people well and were responsive to their needs.

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

Rating at last inspection.

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 14 September 2019). At this inspection we found the service had improved and was now good.

Why we inspected

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

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Mencap Yeovil Support 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.