United Response - Spire DCA

Updated 7 April 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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 17 ‘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 a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 7 March 2023 and ended on 15 March 2023. We visited the location’s office and 3 supported living services on 7 March and 14 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who used the service and 19 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 12 members of staff including the registered manager, area manager, team managers, service managers, quality and compliance auditor and support workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records and 4 people's medication records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 7 April 2023

About the service

United Response – Spire DCA is a supported living and domiciliary care service providing personal care. The service provides support to people with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection, 47 people were using the service.

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.

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

Right Support: Staff were recruited safely, there were sufficient numbers of staff with the necessary training to support people safely and meet their individual needs. People were protected from the risk of abuse and relatives told us they felt the service was safe. Risks to people and staff had been assessed and people's care plans were regularly reviewed and updated.

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: Medicines were managed safely, and we were assured that the provider had sufficient infection, prevention and control measures in place. People received care in a safe and consistent way and people’s care plans detailed information on the monitoring and preventative actions staff were required to take to reduce risks which had been identified.

Right Culture: People were supported to maximise their independence and to pursue hobbies of interest to them. Staff felt valued and well supported by the management team. The registered manager understood their responsibilities and regularly reviewed the quality of the service through the audit systems in place.

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 requires improvement (published 07 February 2020).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding and medicines concerns. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for United response – Spire DCA on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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