Outlook Care - Veronica Close

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 statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as the service is registered for people who have a learning disability and/or who are autistic. The service met this guidance.

The care plans were well written and were regularly reviewed. They included information about how to support the people and included their views about the support they wanted. The care plans were detailed, person-centred and easy for staff to follow. People including their relatives, were listened to and involved in planning their care. However, the provider did not always routinely monitor people’s care and support to continuously improve it. We discussed this the registered manager and they started to make required improvements.

Risks were well managed and the plans included step by step guidance for staff to follow to ensure the person’s safety during support. The risks highlighted the physical assistance the person needed, and the care required by staff to ensure the safety of the person and themselves. People felt the staff treated them with respect kindness and maintained their dignity when providing support. However, potential risks in the care environment were not always managed properly. We discussed this the registered manger and they started to make required improvements.

The service had enough staff employed to keep people safe. Pre-employment checks were completed. Staff completed an induction at the beginning of their employment and received ongoing support through training and supervision.

Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were in place but they were not effective.