Milton Keynes Supported Living Service received an Outstanding overall rating at its first comprehensive inspection in March 2018, with Outstanding ratings in Caring and Responsive domains. The service demonstrated exceptional person-centred practice, innovative staff matching and training, and a deeply embedded culture of empowerment, advocacy, and going above and beyond for the 72 people it supported.
Strengths
· People were matched with compatible staff based on shared interests, gender preferences, and values, with flexible staffing arrangements responsive to individual needs.
· Highly person-centred care plans were co-created with each individual, including photographic and patchwork formats reflecting personal preferences.
· Staff consistently went above and beyond, including working through the night to clean a new home and walking in extreme weather to ensure people received support.
· Strong advocacy culture ensured people's voices were heard, with links to external advocacy services and involvement in recruitment decisions.
· Outstanding end-of-life support, including personalised coffin arrangements, fundraising for headstones, and staff staying overnight with people in hospital.
Quality-Statement breakdown (13)
safe: Staffing requirements were flexible and people and staff were matched together for compatibility.Good
safe: A robust approach to preventing people from harm was embedded into the service.Good
safe: People were fully involved in how their medicines were handled and staff offered support to ensure they were safe.Good
effective: People were actively involved in decisions about their care and support needs; staff demonstrated a detailed understanding of the MCA 2005.Good
effective: Staff received personalised training which ensured they had the skills and knowledge to support each individual.Good
effective: People's physical health needs were kept under regular review with support from relevant healthcare professionals.Good
caring: People were treated with care, compassion and great kindness; positive emphasis on advocacy and ensuring people's voices were heard.Outstanding
caring: People's diversity and individuality were celebrated and strengthened.Outstanding
responsive: Comprehensive assessments were made before people began to use the service and staff were identified to help build strong relationships.Outstanding
responsive: People were supported to create and individualise their own person-centred care plan which truly reflected them as a person.Outstanding
responsive: People were supported to achieve their goals and dreams and made great progress with the service.Outstanding
well-led: A person-centred approach was embedded into the service with people given multiple opportunities to provide feedback.Good
well-led: Comprehensive quality assurance systems were in place which sought to help improve the service.Good