ComCare

Updated 25 February 2023

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 8 ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post for 3 months and had applied to register. We are currently assessing this application.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We sought feedback from professionals from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 people who used the service and 6 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 7 members of staff including the manager, deputy manager, director of care and support workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people’s care records and medication records. We reviewed 4 staff files in relation to recruitment practice. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 25 February 2023

About the service

ComCare provides a support service for people living with a range of disabilities in various supported living houses. The office is based in the grounds of Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities. At time of the inspection ComCare were supporting 12 people however not all people received support with personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. There were 9 people being supported with personal care during this inspection.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We were told staffing had been a particular concern for the management team when they started working at the service in November 2022. They had identified inconsistencies in the teams and that there was not always enough staff to meet people’s needs. The manager described the previous culture amongst staff as poor. Improvements had been made at this inspection with people and their relatives telling us staff teams and support provided was improved and, “The manager is trying to get the right people. The right temperament and things are settling down. It is improving and staff are motivating people rather than just looking after them.”

Recruitment files had not been robustly audited, and we identified shortfalls in pre employment checks being completed before staff were working alone. Correct mitigation was in place, such as risk assessments but these checks were not followed up until inspection. All checks were completed before the end of our inspection.

Management of the service had gone through a recent change. The manager recently joined and told us they were “starting from scratch.” We were told they had apologised to people and their relatives when things had not gone well and had developed new audits and checks to drive improvement going forward.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic. The service was meeting the principles of Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture on this inspection.

Right Support:

People told us staff were polite, kind and respectful when supporting them with their personal care. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing. Staff listened and amended peoples care as their needs changed. People were supported by staff to pursue their interests. A relative told us their family member went swimming, at least, “Once a fortnight and has lunch afterwards. They even went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London.” People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff showed kindness, compassion and support to people. One person told us the staff, “Understand me and help me get a shower.” They also told us staff supported them with changing their bed, making food and supporting them when they were frustrated. We saw people telling staff, “I love you,” and they were affectionate towards them holding their hands or hugging them. Relatives told us “(Staff member) is great I cannot rate them highly enough” and, “This is the place (person) has always chosen and feels the safest…(person) is extremely happy where they live.”

Right Culture:

People led inclusive lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. A relative told us, “Staff treat (person) as an individual, a buddy, they get the measure of him.” People were encouraged and supported to establish and maintain relationships with one another as well as with family and friends. We observed staff preparing a valentine calendar with one person, to assist them to count down the days till the event and observed staff supporting people with video calls with their family. Relatives told us the, “Staff are always helpful.” People told us they were excited about going home to their family and staff had supported them to prepare for their individual needs. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing. Relatives told us how staff had worked with their family member to organise a disco for their birthday including preparing all the invitations. They described the staff as “extremely caring and thoughtful.” They had made their relative “A cake, the most beautiful cake.”

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 13 March 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.