About the service:

•Ashley House (also known as Complete Care Solution) is a domiciliary care agency. The provider is Vineyard (UK) Services Limited.

•It provides a personal care support service to people with a mental health condition, older people, physical disability, sensory impairment and younger adults. Some of who live in supported living accommodation.

•Not everyone using Ashley House receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service

being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

•At the time of the inspection, it was providing personal care support to 45 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

•Relatives told us staff were reliable and met people's needs safely. People were safeguarded against the risk of harm and abuse. Staff knew how to provide safe care.

•People's medicines needs were safely met.

•Staff protected people against the risk of infection.

•The provider ensured people were supported by suitable and sufficient staff. Staff received regular supervision and they told us they felt supported.

•People's needs were assessed before they started receiving care and were supported by appropriately trained and skilled staff.

•People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

•People's care plans were person-centred. Staff knew how to provide personalised care.

•Staff treated people with dignity. People were involved in the care planning process and their

independence was encouraged.

•People and relatives knew how to raise concerns and they told us the service was responsive.

• People and relatives told us they were happy with the care they received and felt the service was managed well.

•The provider had effective systems and processes to ensure the quality and safety of service.

Rating at last inspection:

•The service was registered by CQC on 26 August 2011. At our last inspection the service was rated as overall Good.

Why we inspected:

•This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up:

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

•We made two recommendations in our inspection report, which we will follow up at our next inspection.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

This inspection took place on 12 July 2016. We gave the provider two days’ notice that we would be visiting their head office. We gave the provider notice as we wanted to make sure the registered manager was available on the day of our inspection.

Ashley House (also known as Complete Care Solution) provides support and personal care to people living at home and in supported living projects in Haringey. There were approximately 40 people using the service at the time of our inspection.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People told us they were well treated by the staff and felt safe and trusted them.

Staff could explain how they would recognise and report abuse and they understood their responsibilities in keeping people safe.

Where any risks to people’s safety had been identified, the management had thought about and discussed with the person ways to mitigate these risks.

People told us that staff came at the time they were supposed to or they would phone to say if they were running late.

The service was following appropriate recruitment procedures to make sure that only suitable staff were employed at the agency.

Staff we spoke with had a good knowledge of the medicines that people they visited were taking. People told us they were satisfied with the way their medicines were managed.

People who used the service and their relatives were positive about the staff and told us they had confidence in their abilities and staff told us that they were provided with training in the areas they needed in order to support people effectively.

Staff understood that it was not right to make choices for people when they could make choices for themselves and people’s ability around decision making, preferences and choices were recorded in their support plans and followed by staff.

People told us they were happy with the support they received with eating and drinking and staff were aware of people’s dietary requirements and preferences.

People confirmed that they were involved as much as they wanted to be in the planning of their care and support. Care plans included the views of people using the service and their relatives. Relatives told us they were kept up to date about any changes by staff at the office.

People and their relatives told us that the management and staff were quick to respond to any changes in their needs and care plans reflected how people were supported to receive care and treatment in accordance with their current needs and preferences.

People told us they had no complaints about the service but said they felt able to raise any concerns without worry.

The agency had a number of quality monitoring systems including yearly surveys for people using the service and their relatives. People we spoke with confirmed that they were asked about the quality of the service and had made comments about this. They felt the service took their views into account in order to improve service delivery.