Continuum Care (Cornwall)

Right Support: The model of care maximised people's choice control and independence. In each of the settings we visited people were able to choose what to do each day and staff respected those decision and choices. Staffing levels reflected people's needs, and where additional staff were required to enable people to safely engage with more risky or challenging activities this was arranged. People were encouraged to do as much as possible for themselves and had been supported to gain the skills necessary to enable them to gain voluntary work placements.

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. Staff and managers communicated with people effectively and supported people to make meaningful decisions and choices. Where people lacked capacity and there were restrictive care practices in place these practices had been reported to the local authority for authorisation by the court of protection.

Right Care: Staff cared for the people they supported and understood their role in ensuring people were protected from all forms of abuse and discrimination. Staff took evident pleasure and pride in describing people's recent achievements.

Right Culture: The supported living service was well staffed. Relatives and health professionals were complimentary of the positive impact the service had on people's welling, communication and quality of life.

Domiciliary care service The provider had experienced challenges in relation to the recruitment of staff able to drive for the domiciliary care service. As a result, the provider was not currently accepting new packages of domiciliary care.

Staff rotas included appropriate travel time and people told us their carers normally arrived on time and stayed for the full duration of each visit. Missed visits had occurred infrequently and the service learned from these instances and identified the need for additional processes to be introduced in order to reduce the risk of visits being missed in future.

Staff in both divisions of the service staff were recruited safely and were well supported by their managers.

Quality assurance processes were effective and both divisions of the service regularly received compliments about the quality of care provided. The service communicated effectively and people and relatives knew how to contact the registered manager if necessary.

Medicines were managed safely and there were appropriate infection control procedures in place.