Southside Partnership Domiciliary Care Agency provides care and support to people living in 16 supported living settings, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. People using the service lived in flats and houses in multiple occupation (HMO). HMO are properties where at least three people in more than one household share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities. Five supported living settings are in Lambeth, one in Westminster and ten in Bromley. At the time of the inspection 104 people were using the service in 22 schemes, however only 59 were receiving personal care in 16 schemes. Southside Partnership is part of a larger organisation providing social care services called Certitude.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good.

At this inspection, the service was rated Outstanding.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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.

The provider was involved in a number of initiatives that demonstrated a strong person centred culture within the organisation. People using the service were involved across the services as quality checkers visiting services and speaking to their peers about their experiences and how services could be improved. The provider took part in initiatives to support people using the service to connect with their local communities.

The provider ensured there was a focus on building and maintaining open and honest relationships with people and their families. Formal listening events were held as a platform for family and friends of people to share their views and discuss issues with a range of operational staff.

Certitude had a clear vision which was supported by a five year strategy, yearly organisation business plans and individual service continuous improvement plans which enabled the vision to be promoted throughout the organisation and down to each individual service.

The provider worked in partnership with organisations to build seamless experiences for people using the service and explored new ways of connecting people with their communities based on good practice.

Governance was well-embedded into the running of the service. There was a robust framework of accountability to monitor performance and risk across all the schemes. All services were subject to rigorous systems of quality assurance. This included a member of the quality team completing an audit alongside a service manager from a different service. A system was in place which allowed the management team to have a greater insight to how services were performing. At the end of each month, each service would complete a self-assessment tool including a care records tracker, medication, and food hygiene. The senior leadership and board members also completed visits looking at people support, staff, home and environment.

Relatives of people using the service were satisfied with the service and complimented the service and staff about how well their family members were looked after. We observed interactions between staff and people using the service in the individual services we visited to be friendly. Relatives said they felt their family members were cared for and they had no concerns about their safety. Care workers were familiar with safeguarding procedures and training records showed that safeguarding training was delivered to staff.

Care plans involved people, their families and external professionals, where required. People had person centred plans in place and com

We contacted people who use the service, relatives and visited two carers who provided support for people within their homes. People who use the service told us they felt treated with dignity and respect. They said "the service is brilliant". They discussed the available care options with the service and had plenty of information provided. This was before agreeing the type of care and support, how it would be delivered and who would deliver it.

They said the quality of care they received from trained and competent staff was good, delivered appropriately and they felt safe with the service they received. One person told us "I'm really pleased". Someone else said "the staff are excellent".

They did not comment on the support staff received from the service or the quality assurance system in place. They did tell us that there was frequent contact with the agency to identify that they were satisfied with the service they were getting and the staff who delivered it.

This inspection took place on 14 and 22 October 2015 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. At our previous inspection on 8 November 2013 we found the provider was meeting regulations in relation to the outcomes we inspected.

Southside Partnership Domiciliary Care Agency provides personal care for people in supported living accommodation. They have a number of supported living schemes across Bromley and Lambeth. However, not all of the people receive personal care. Our inspection was focused on the people that received personal care.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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 using the service told us that staff looked after them and treated them well. We found staff were familiar with safeguarding procedures and had been given safeguarding training.

Risk assessments were carried out which helped to ensure that people were able to take part in daily activities in a safe manner. Risk assessments included a risk management plan which identified the level of risk and contained an in-depth management plan. Staff explained how they encouraged positive risk taking with the necessary measures put in place to ensure people were able to have some independence.

People received their medicines safely and received ongoing health care support. Guidelines were in place to ensure people received their medicines correctly and staff completed medicine records when they administered medicines. People had health action plans and hospital passports in place which had been reviewed recently. There was evidence that specialist professional support was sought for more complex needs such as speech and language therapists and physiotherapists.

Staff members went through robust recruitment procedures. They were required to spend some time with people using the service which was closely observed by a manager, who assessed how they interacted with people. There was a comprehensive induction based on the care certificate and a six month probation for new staff. The providers training manager was responsible developing the Care Certificate induction modules for managers to support staff with and training of new and existing staff. Staff received ongoing support and told us they were satisfied with the training opportunities they were given.

Staff demonstrated a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), and its application. Staff were aware of the importance of asking people for consent and the need to have formal best interests meetings in relation to decisions where people did not have the capacity to consent. The provider had taken into consideration where people had some restrictions placed on them and had submitted applications to the authorising body in respect of these people.

Care records were person centred and developed with the help of an in-house intensive support team. They helped to ensure behaviour support plans were in place and specialist advice was available to support staff in areas such as intensive interaction and positive behaviour support.

Quality assurance was central to monitoring the way service was run. A newly recruited head of quality had put in place a number of ways in which quality was monitored and measured across the organisation. A quality framework had been developed, bringing together a range of quality outcomes from external organisations and implementing them within the service and seeing what areas needed to be improved. Feedback was sought from people in a manner that was accessible to them.