'Outstanding' Kettering care service one of UK's best

L-R, Tapiwanshe Matings, Jennifer Averilla Cotter, Lesley Gazeley Nee Hall, Lauran Aguilar, Debbie Mitchell, Jamal Stayed, Geoff Ford, Paul Groom, Emma Shortland, Patrick Essex, Julia Cariga, Julia Gauld, Joanne Wignell, Louise Penman, Clayton Parker, Heather Mcdonagh and Natalie Turley.

Staff at a Kettering supported living service are celebrating after they were rated as 'outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the second consecutive time.

Consensus Community Support Limited, based in Headlands, is the highest-rated community supported living service in Northamptonshire and is one of just 24 with an outstanding rating in all five key areas nationwide.

It comes after an inspection in October which highlighted a real 'can-do' attitude at the service, which specialises in learning disabilities, personal care, physical disabilities and caring for adults under 65.

Michelle Christie, registered manager of Consensus Community Support Limited, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received an ‘outstanding’ rating from the CQC for the second consecutive time.

"Since our last 'outstanding', we have worked incredibly hard as a team to support opportunity, choice and success for all the individuals living in our service, so we are delighted that this has been recognised by our individual ratings of outstanding in each of the five key areas.

“It’s all down to the hard work, passion and commitment of the entire team, the people we support and the support of our wider operational and management team across Consensus.

"Our values are quite definitely what drive us and inspire the way we work and inspire success.”

Inspectors agreed that staff were highly motivated to support people to achieve their goals and aspirations and feedback from people and their families was overwhelmingly positive and consistent with the theme that people felt cared for and empowered to do what they wished.

They reported that people were truly respected and valued as individuals, that staff were passionate about their work and that service leadership was exceptional and distinctive.

Eddie Morgan, managing director of Consensus, said: “I am delighted with the outcome as it recognises not only the huge amount of effort Michelle, the service managers and their teams put in to delivering the highest quality of care and support but also importantly, the exceptional outcomes that individuals supported by Consensus Community Support Services are achieving.”

“It is important that we use this exceptional result as motivation to continue to improve the service and ensure the highest standard of care and support.”