Sportfit provide personal care services to young people within their family homes. People they support include children aged 13 to 18 and younger adults. People supported include those with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders and sensory impairment. Sportfit were providing services to three people at the time of inspection. Eight other people used the service for support to access the community, however these people did not receive support with their personal care. Sportfit also runs a ‘short break activity holiday’ and ‘immediate response service’ from the same building. A different staff team runs these services and the services provided do not come under The Care Quality Commissions regulatory remit. We asked the provider to update their statement of purpose, website and any commissioning authorities to reflect this distinction.

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’s relatives and staff told us that the registered manager and management team were approachable and dedicated in their role. The registered manager strongly promoted the provider’s values and had invested time in their staff to ensure that they reflected this ethos. Staff we spoke to were committed and dedicated in their role and told us about the importance of providing good quality care. People’s relative’s told us staff embodied these values in their working practice. The management team took an active role in the day to day running of the service. They were familiar with the people who received care and were readily available to advise and assist staff who required support.

The provider had invested in additional resources since the last inspection to improve its training resources for staff. New staff received training in line with the Care Certificate, which is a nationally recognised set of competencies for care workers. The provider had also enrolled existing staff into this training programme to help ensure all staff received a consistent and high quality training programme. Many staff were also following additional qualifications in health and social care.

Improvements had been made to develop policies and procedures around safe recruitment of staff. The registered manager had identified some shortfalls in the service’s recruitment processes and had employed additional staff to review and manage recruitment for the service. This had resulted in improvements being made to the provider’s recruitment processes. This helped to ensure that suitably qualified and skilled people were employed to work with people.

The service monitored the quality of the care being delivered by observing staff during their working practice and reviewing care documentation to ensure its accuracy and quality. Feedback and learning was shared with staff through supervision and team meetings.

The service worked in partnership with people’s families to ensure that their care plans reflected people’s choice and preferences around their personal routines. Care plans were regularly reviewed and the service participated in periodic meetings with families and professionals associated with people’s education and care to help ensure a consistent approach between different agencies. The service also sought feedback from people and their relatives through questionnaires, phone calls and visits. This helped ensure that the care being delivered met the expectations of people using the service. A complaints policy was in place and people’s relative’s told us they felt comfortable in raising concerns.

Risks to people during care delivery were identified and assessed. The service ensured that these risks

This inspection took place on 20 April 2015 and was an announced inspection.

Sportfit provide a range of personal care services to young people within their family homes. People they support include children aged 13 to 18 and younger adults. People supported include those with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders and sensory impairment. They were providing support for 28 people at the time of our inspection. They state they use activity based provision to encourage service users to experience success, lead healthy lives, become active and alter negative behaviour’s.

There is a registered manager who is also the registered provider for 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 and their relatives felt safe with the support they received from Sportfit. Staff were aware of the provider and local authority safeguarding policies and procedures and how to report concerns to their managers or outside agencies. Recruitment processes included checks that staff were suitable to work with young people. There were sufficient numbers of staff to deliver care to people in their homes.

People were supported by staff to take their medicines as required. Staff were given training in administration of medicines but competency following training was not assessed. Medicine risk assessments had not been completed.

Staff received training in a range of topics associated with delivering care. When staff began working within the service they completed an induction programme of learning and accompanying experienced staff on home visits before they began working with people unsupervised. Relatives and young people were able to say if they wanted the member of staff to work with them.

People were asked before care was given to them. Where they could not give consent, relatives who had legal responsibility for them were involved. The majority of people who used the service were under the age of 18 so the Mental Capacity Act 2005 did not apply to them.

Relatives told us they were happy with how staff supported their young people with their nutritional needs. People were eating foods they liked and received advice and support to maintain a healthy balanced diet. Within their own homes people were supported by Sportfit staff to visit healthcare professionals.

Relatives and people using the service told us about the outstanding care they received from Sportfit staff. They said staff often went above and beyond the scope of their role to provide extra support to them. Care was personalised and met the assessed needs of individuals. If changes were required to care plans these were carried out quickly and met the needs of the individual.

The registered manager was approachable and listened to comments and concerns that were passed on to them by people and their relatives. Complaints were investigated and were resolved to the satisfaction of the person who made the complaint.

Staff were well supported to carry out their job effectively. They received regular supervisions and attended staff meetings to improve their practice. They knew what their roles and responsibilities were and what was expected of them. The registered provider had a clear philosophy of the service and staff were aware of this. Relatives and staff told us communication was good within the service.