Supported Living Plymouth and Devon provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. The registered provider for this service is Havencare (Southwest) Limited, a registered charity that operates as a provider supporting people with learning disabilities and autism. Supported living is where people live either on their own or with a small group of others, and have their own tenancy agreement. Care and support is provided in order to promote their independence. The care people receive in supported living settings is regulated by CQC, but the accommodation is not. The service supported some people on a 24-hour basis and others at specific times during the day and night. At the time of the inspection 27 people were being supported by the service with personal care tasks.

We checked the service was working in line with ‘Registering the Right Support’ which makes sure services for people with a learning disability and/or autism receive services that are developed in line with national policy. For example, how the service ensures people care is personalised, maintains their independence and supports links with people’s community.

At our last inspection in July 2016 we rated the service as Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good in the areas of safe, effective, responsive and well-led. We found further improvements had been made in relation to caring and this area is now rated as outstanding.

There was a positive, open and inclusive culture within the service. The management team provided good leadership and led by example. Relatives, staff and other agencies were positive about the leadership of the service. Staff said they loved their work and were passionate about providing good care to people.

People were provided with sensitive and compassionate support by a kind, committed and caring staff team. We observed without exception staff treated people with the upmost patience and kindness. When we visited people in their homes we saw staff knew people well and had built positive and trusting relationships. Relatives and other agencies praised the staff and management for their caring and compassionate approach to supporting people. Staff really respected people and recognised they were supporting people in their own homes.

All the staff we spoke with were able to tell us about the values of the organisation and said they were informed of them and their importance during the recruitment process and as part of on-going training and discussion. It was very clear staff had adopted these values in relation to the support they provided. It was reflected in the way staff spoke about the people they supported, in the practices we observed, and in the feedback we received about the way people were cared for and treated.

The service had a culture which recognised equality and diversity amongst the people who used the service and staff. Staff were sensitive and respectful to people’s religious and cultural needs. People were not discriminated against in respect of their sexuality or other lifestyle choices.

Personalised care was central to the service philosophy and staff demonstrated they understood this by talking to us about how they met people’s care and support needs. Staff spoke about their work with commitment and passion and used words like “Individual”, “Independence” and “Rights” when they talked about the people they supported. People’s care records were personalised, which ensured care was tailored to meet their individual and diverse needs. We saw people were supported to live a happy, fulfilled life, to feel safe, enabled to try new opportunities and to maintain their independence as much as possible.

The provider and registered manager recognised the benefits of multi- agency working and external agencies were very positive about the management and care provided to people.

Staff were well trained and training was relevant to their role and kept u

Supported Living is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to adults of all ages in their own homes. The service provides help with people’s personal care needs in Plymouth and surrounding areas. This includes people who may have a learning disability or autism. The service supports some people on a 24 hour basis and others who may require support with personal care needs at specific times of the day and/or night. At the time of the inspection 21 people were receiving support with their personal care needs. None of the people receiving support with their personal care needs could communicate their views to us. We observed how staff supported people and spoke with their relatives about the service they received.

A registered manager was employed to manage the service locally. 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. There were also service managers and team leaders employed to ensure the service ran smoothly.

People, their relatives and staff were unfailingly positive about the organisation, the management team and the support people received. Comments included, ““Havencare’s (Supported Living) performance has been outstanding and they are truly a person centred organisation”, “They definitely go above and beyond” and “This [service] is a great success story as far as I’m concerned.”

Staff described the management to be very open, supportive and approachable. Staff talked about their jobs in a strong, positive manner and were highly motivated. The registered manager and nominated individual demonstrated a strong ethos of personalised support and empowerment, which was communicated to staff and staff shared this vision. One staff member commented, “I’m so passionate about it.”

People were supported to live active lives based on their wants and desires. Relatives felt that people valued their relationships with staff and placed trust in them. Staff also prioritised building strong relationships with people’s families in order to help understand people better. People’s care plans contained detailed information about how they wanted to be supported and were updated whenever their needs changed.

People were encouraged to develop new skills and further their level of independence. Action plans and steps were created to ensure people received all the support and advice they needed to do this, at a pace that suited them.

People received care from a staff team who were trained to meet their needs and who cared deeply for their wellbeing. Regular activities were carried out to assess any gaps in staff knowledge and resources put in place to improve knowledge in these areas. Staff members were encouraged to develop professionally and used their increased knowledge to the benefit of the people they supported.

Staff were recruited safely and detailed information was collected about people’s likes and dislikes to help ensure staff’s skill suited the person they supported. People were empowered to be in control of who supported them. If people showed they didn’t get on with a particular staff member, this was respected and the staff member did not support them anymore.

People were supported by staff who had an in depth understanding of how to keep them safe and alleviate any anxiety they may have. Staff were skilled in using personalised communication methods to understand people’s needs and wishes; and respected people’s decisions. New technology was embraced in order to gather detailed information to support people to be safe.

Staff had undertaken training on safeguarding adults from abuse, and put their knowledge into practice. Where staff had raised alerts the service managed the concerns promptly and when appropriate, c