Aspiring Lives Ltd

Updated 10 September 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One inspector completed this inspection.

Service and service type:

Aspiring Lives is a domiciliary care service providing support and personal care to people in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

The inspection activity started on 9 August 2018 and concluded on the 13 August 2019.

What we did:

Our planning took into account information we held about the service. This included information about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we looked at issues raised in complaints and how the service responded to them. We contacted the commissioner of one persons care to request some feedback on the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with one persons relative and the registered manager. We looked at one person’s care records and a selection of other records including policies, procedures, daily records and the recruitment and personnel file for a member of staff that was due to start working at the service.

Updated 10 September 2019

About the service

Aspiring Lives is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people who live in their own homes. The service specialises in supporting younger adults with a learning disability, autistic spectrum conditions and physical disabilities. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to one person.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

People’s experience of using this service:

The person received a consistently good service that was safe and effective. The registered manager, who delivered care, was kind and caring. They knew the person they supported extremely well and had a good understanding of their personality as well as their health and social care needs.

The person, their relative and care commissioner had been fully involved in the assessment and planning of their care before they started using the service. A care plan had been developed with the person detailing their likes, dislikes, preferences and care needs.

The person and their relative were treated with kindness, dignity and respect and their privacy was protected.

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 did support this practice.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

The person was supported and encouraged to remain independent and do as much as possible for themselves. They were supported to pursue their hobbies and interests and take part in activities they enjoyed.

Risks to the person had been assessed and minimised in the least restrictive way.

A complaints procedure was in place for people to follow. Although no complaints had been received there was a system in place for complaints to be recorded and responded to.

The registered had oversight of all aspects of the service and ensured people were listened to.

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 13/08/2018 and this is the first inspection

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection in response to the date of registration.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.