We carried out a review of the data available to us about Pathfinders Community Support Limited on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Pathfinders Community Support Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
Pathfinders provides care and support to people with a learning disability living in supported living accommodation. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting nine people, however, only two people were receiving personal care.
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
Though people using the service were empowered to assist in the staff selection process, staff who had been employed had not had gaps in their employment history discussed or any potential risk involved assessed. Most other risks were assessed and updated regularly, however, we noted there were no personal evacuation plans in people’s care plans. People were supported to have their medicines in the right way and at the right time. However, staff recording of some occasional or medicines were not using the designated codes on the recording charts.
People were supported to be safe and protected from discrimination. Safety was a high priority for managers and staff, systems and processes to identify risk or potential abuse were robust. People’s freedom was respected, and they were supported to be as independent as they could be.
There were enough staff with the right skills to meet people’s needs and support them to stay safe. People liked the staff and had confidence in them to develop as individuals within the community.
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.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, 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 providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.
Right support: The model of care and how that is based in people’s own flat which maximises people’s choice, control and independence over their lives.
Right care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights
Right culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the provider is clearly stated in the vision and values documents and the Statement of Purpose. They explain to people the level of service they can expect and ensure care staff promote people using services to lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.
People were supported in in a person-centred way. The overall culture of the service was empowering and inclusive. Staff promoted people’s human rights and protected people’s privacy and dignity. People were consulted and included in decisions about their care and support and about the development of the service.
Staff knew how to communicate with people effectively and understood people’s needs well. People led independent lives and were empowered take part in the running and development of the service.
There was a strong framework of accountability and systems to monitor the quality of the service were well embedded into the running of the service. There was a clear organisational structure and staff understood their responsibilities. People, staff and relatives told us the senior managers were supportive, approachable and accessible.
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published 17 August 2018).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
Pathfinders Community Support Ltd provides personal care and treatment for adults living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection visit five people were using the service. Not everyone using Pathfinders Community Support Ltd received a regulated activity. The CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’, help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we take into account any wider social care provided.
This was the first inspection of the service since they were registered on 7 November 2013. At this inspection we found evidence to support the rating of good.
A registered manager was 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.
Staff had the appropriate knowledge and skills they needed to provide safe and effective care to the person using the service. Staff knew how to keep the person safe and followed the guidance and information detailed in the person’s care plan and risk assessments.
Staff were employed in sufficient numbers to support the person and treated the person with care and compassion and ensure their dignity was preserved at all times.
Staff assisted the person to access the community, this included seeing relevant health care professionals and shopping for and assisting to prepare and support their healthy eating regime.
The registered manager and staff used the knowledge they gained from supporting the person to review and update the person’s care plan so that they could respond to the person’s changing needs.
Staff worked closely with health and social care professionals to ensure the care offered was in the best interests of the person. The registered manager provided on-going support to staff through day to day contact and supervision.
The provider had implemented a quality assurance system to ensure that the person who used the service had good quality care and support. The registered manager undertook a range of audits to ensure staff were provided personalised care that centred on the safety and welfare of the person being supported.
At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the service. All of the people we spoke with were happy with their care and support. One person said: "It's been really good." Another person spoke to us about their regular care worker and said: "She's ever so nice." None of the people using the service had any concerns about the care and support they were receiving.
Staff described being supported and said they were trained on an on-going basis. Staff were positive about the management at the service, one staff member said: "The manager is always there for us. We're really supported."
We looked at staff rotas and saw that the service employed enough staff to meet the needs of people using the service.
We reviewed the support plans for all of the people using the service and found these to contain an assessment of people's needs as well as guidance for staff on providing safe and appropriate support for people.
The service was regularly assessing its quality and people had the opportunity to express their views about how the service was being run.
We found that people's mental capacity was not being assessed by the service and that consent to people's plan of care and support was not being always being obtained for people.
People using the service were complimentary about the people who looked after them. One person commented that, "They are doing a very good job. I'm very happy with them." Nobody using the service had any concerns about the care being delivered.
Staff we spoke with were all happy working for the service. They told us they felt supported and adequately trained to carry out their roles. One support worker we spoke with said, "We are constantly having our training updated. If we need any extra training we just have to ask." A care co-ordinator we talked to told us, "I love it here. I have a really good rapport with the people I work with. Staff are all nice and I am getting on alright."
We found that the service had detailed care plans and risk assessments in place for people using the service. Staffing levels were adequate and staff were well trained. There were quality monitoring processes in place to ensure the service was assessing the quality of the care being delivered.