About the service: South Cumbria Domiciliary Support Services (Kendal) provides personal care and support to people with learning disabilities in their own homes. People using the service lived in a variety of ordinary flats and houses some in multi-occupation shared by other people in the town of Kendal. At the time of the inspection there were 24 people receiving the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

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 purpose of the service is to enable people to live as independently as possible in the community.

At the last inspection in November 2017 we found the service required improvement in three of the key questions and we made a recommendation to the provider that they developed the processes used in the quality of their auditing systems. At this inspection we found the service had improved and the processes used for monitoring the safety and quality of the service provided had been improved.

There were sufficient numbers of suitable staff to meet people's needs and at times that allowed people to be flexible with their daily routines. Staff had received training was applicable to people’s needs and was on going. Staff were supported by the registered manager and their team supervisors through regular staff meetings, supervision and appraisals.

Support provided to people respected their privacy, dignity and promoted their independence. It was clear from our observations that staff knew people's needs well. We observed kind, caring and friendly interactions taking place.

Hazards to people's safety both in their homes and in the community, had been identified and appropriately managed. People received the right level of support they needed to take their medicines safely. The staff identified if people were unwell and supported them to contact health professionals.

People we spoke with made very positive comments about the service provided and the staff who supported them and told us they were very happy.

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.

More information is in the full report

Rating at last inspection:

Requires Improvement (The date last report published was 15 January 2018)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The service has improved to Good.

This announced inspection took place on 7 and 14 November 2017. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice of the visit because the location provides support and personal care to people living in their own homes and we wanted to make sure that the registered manager was available.

This was our first inspection of this service since it registered with us.

The service provides personal care and support to people living with learning disabilities in their own homes. People using the service lived in a variety of ordinary flats and houses some in multi-occupation shared by other people in the town of Kendal. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate the premises that are used for this inspection we looked at people’s personal care and support.

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 purpose of the service is to enable people to live as independently as possible in the community. At the time of the inspection there were 23 people receiving the service.

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.

Medicines were being administered appropriately but records relating to their management were not consistent across the service. However we did not see that it had impacted on people receiving their medications as they were prescribed.

Staff had received training on safeguarding and understood how to protect people from harm and abuse.

We saw that risk assessments had been completed covering aspects in protecting people in their own home and their activities in the community. The provider ensured that positive risk taking was in place and people were supported and encouraged to take part in the activities of their choice. However some of the assessments we looked at were not entirely person centred and care records had not always been reviewed in line with the provider’s policies.

We found that the service worked well with a variety of external agencies such as social services and health care professionals to provide appropriate care and support to meet people’s physical and emotional needs.

People received support from a regular team of staff who they knew well and who understood the care and support they required. We saw that people were treated with kindness, dignity and respect and they made positive comments about the staff who supported them in their homes.

Support was provided in a manner to people to promote their independence for example supporting them to join in with activities in the community.

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.

The service followed the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of practice. This helped to protect the rights of people who were not able to make important decisions themselves. Best interest meetings were held to assist people who were not always able to make difficult decisions for themselves and where relevant independent advocacy was arranged if required.

Systems that were in place for monitoring of the quality of the service had not always been effective in identifying the issues we found in some of the care records during the inspection.

We made recommendation that the service develops the processes used in the quality of their auditi