Supported Housing

Supported Housing is owned by The East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC). The service provides 24-hour domiciliary care and support to 18 people with learning disabilities in the community. It has an office base in Beverley. Support workers provide a service to people living in either supported living scheme properties or in their own homes. Hours of support are dependent upon individual needs and parts of the service operate over 24 hours, providing sleep-in support as required.

The service was last inspected in March 2016 and at that time we gave an overall rating of good. The provider had made improvements to the service since the last inspection and the well led domain has improved to outstanding.

There was 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.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service was caring. Staff knew the importance of developing good working relationships with the people they supported and ensured they provided person centred care based on their specific needs. People told us they felt like one big family and staff supported people to maintain relationships formed across services. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of people's personalities, individual needs and what was important to them.

Staff demonstrated warm caring relations between people and staff and we were told that people felt valued and that their relations with staff were person centred and focused on them as individuals

The service was exceptionally well-led. All levels of the management team shared the same vision for providing a service that promoted a high standard of person centred care. The registered manager's enthusiastic attitude drove the service. Staff saw them as a role model and followed their lead by embedding the values of the service in all areas of support for people.

The approach of the registered manager and the staff team collectively empowered people to live their lives the way they wanted to.

The quality assurance team told us that the registered manager was extremely driven and committed to internal processes for managing quality and was always at the fore front leading the way for other services.

People using the service told us they felt safe. Staff showed a good understanding of how to keep people safe and were aware of safeguarding procedures in place to ensure safety. Detailed risk assessments supported people to take positive risk and promote people's independence. Systems were in place that ensured staff were recruited safely.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. People were fully involved in choosing and preparing their own meals and to maintain a healthy diet. Records showed health advice was sought in a timely manner and people had access to a range of healthcare professionals.

The service understood the needs of different people and groups of people, and delivered care and support in a way that met these needs and promoted equality. People received personalised care which was responsive to their needs. Where people's needs changed the staff worked in a proactive way to ensure these changes were communicated across the team and recorded.

People planned activities that were meaningful to them. Annual holidays were of people's own choice and staff supported people to explore new activities and interests by providing people with information of events in the local area.

End of life care plans were in place and staff supported people to explore feelings and deal with bereavement.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found