Elevation Care Services provides personal care and support to people with learning disabilities and autism who live in their own homes to enable them to maintain their independence. At the time of our inspection the service was providing care and support to 26 people.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained good.

People were kept safe from avoidable harm and abuse. Staff had been provided with training to enable them to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse; and felt confident in how to report them. Risk assessments were in place to promote people’s safety and they were regularly reviewed. The service’s recruitment process ensured that sufficient and suitable staff were employed to care for people safely. Systems were in place to ensure people’s medicines were managed safely.

Suitable support and training was provided to staff to care for people appropriately. People’s consent was gained before assisting them with care and support. Staff supported people to maintain a balanced diet and to access healthcare facilities when required.

Positive and caring relationships had been developed between people and staff. This ensured that people felt that they mattered; and the staff approach was consistently positive. People were able to express their views and make decisions about their care and support needs. Staff ensured that people’s privacy, dignity and independence was respected and promoted.

People’s needs were assessed prior to them receiving care and support. This ensured that the care provided met their needs. Complaints were managed appropriately in line with the provider’s complaints procedure.

The registered manager and senior staff at the service demonstrated that the culture was transparent, positive and inclusive. A variety of audits were undertaken and used to drive improvement.

This inspection took place on the 30 July 2015 and was announced.

Elevation Care Services is a supported living service which provides care and support to people who may have a range of care needs. These include learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorders.

At the time of this inspection the service was supporting three people across two separate houses.

A registered manager was 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.

People felt safe and staff had been provided with training to recognise the signs of potential abuse or harm.

There were processes in place to manage identifiable risks and to ensure people’s freedom was not restricted unnecessarily.

There were sufficient numbers of staff employed with the right skills and knowledge to meet people’s assessed needs and to promote their safety.

Recruitment checks were carried out on new staff to ensure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.

There were systems in place to ensure people received their medicines appropriately and at the prescribed times.

Staff had been provided with the appropriate training to carry out their roles and responsibilities.

The service worked to the key principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. When required capacity assessments were undertaken if it was found that people could not make decisions about their care and support.

People chose what they wished to eat and drink; and staff supported them with food shopping and cooking.

People were registered with a GP and if required had access to health care facilities.

Staff treated people with kindness and compassion. They were enabled to express their views and their privacy and dignity were promoted.

People were assessed to ensure that the service could appropriately meet their needs.

There was a complaints procedure which was written in an appropriate format to enable people to raise concerns if they needed to.

We found that notifications had not been submitted to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in line with requirements.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the care provided, which was used to drive continuous improvements.