Updated 1 March 2019
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides support to adults, young people and children who have complex support and personal care needs.
Not everyone supported by The Together Trust receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. At the time of our inspection the Head of Personalisation was acting as the manager of the service and was in the process of becoming the registered manager for the service.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it supports people across a large area and we needed to be sure that the manager would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 28 November and ended on 12 December 2018. We visited the office location on 28 November 2018 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did:
Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including notifications the service was required to send us about things happening in the service, information from other stakeholders, for example the local authorities and information from members of the public. In addition, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
During the inspection we spoke with four people using the service, nine members of support staff and the manager. We also reviewed care and medication records of three people, records of accidents and incidents and complaints. We visited the registered office, houses where three people were supported and an activities hub which people using the service, and the wider community, attended.
We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We observed other interactions between staff and people they supported.