Living Ambitions Limited - Essex

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities most people take for granted.

As we visited 8 of the providers locations, we did identify some inconsistencies in the provision of care between the locations. However, the registered manager was responsive to our feedback and aware of the locations where extra support was needed.

Overall people's care needs had been assessed with risks identified and actions taken to reduce these. People received safe care and the provider checked to ensure staff were suitable to work at the service. Medicines were managed safely; however, some minor improvements were needed. The registered manager had oversight of staffing and was aware of the 1 location where staffing during our visit impacted on the people who were supported there. All other locations had enough staff to meet people’s needs safely.

People were supported by staff who knew them very well and provided kind, caring person-centred care and support. People were treated with dignity and respect that valued them individually. Feedback from people, relatives and staff was overall positive.

Support plans were electronic, however there were various documents that remained paper based. Some paper documents we viewed required updating, and this was completed by staff at the time of our assessment.

Overall people were supported by staff to take part in a variety of activities, hobbies and interests they enjoyed and that maintained their independence. In 1 of the locations the staff available during our assessment impacted on people’s ability to access the community.

The provider had a number of quality assurance and audit checks to monitor the care being provided. Additional learning was needed to ensure standards in all locations were consistent.