All inspections: Home Based Breaks Service

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was announced and carried out on 8 July 2014. The previous inspection took place in September 2013 and there were no concerns.

Home Based Breaks Service provides personal care for children with disabilities in their own homes or in the community. There were five children using the service that fall in the remit of our inspection. 190 children receive a service from the Home Based Breaks Service overall.

The service has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and shares the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law with the provider.

Children’s safety was given paramount importance and their awareness of safety was actively encouraged. Staffing levels were good and these were determined based upon the individual needs of each child. The service carefully assessed individual risks to children, whilst not being risk averse, and staff empowered children to be independent and develop life skills.

Staff were experienced and knowledgeable to support children safely, with their skills closely matched to the individual needs of each child. Key staff who supported each child were consistent in order to form secure relationships and provide reliable, effective person-centred care. Staff’s close links with other professionals involved in children’s care meant children’s day to day health needs were met and referrals made when their needs changed.

Staff we spoke with were caring and passionate about their work with the children and there was a clear emphasis on children and children’s rights being at the centre of the service. Children’s care records reflected a strong ethos of caring for children and the people that mattered to them, such as their family.

Children were encouraged to express their views about their own care and about the service through daily discussion and in surveys and these were listened to and acted upon. Children’s family members were consulted about their child’s care and they spoke positively about the service and its impact upon their lives.

Home Based Breaks Service was well led, person-centred and based upon sound values that were embedded in practice. Staff were supported well and as a result, offered high quality support to children and families.

We spoke with the manager, three staff and three people who had parental responsibility for children who used the service.

We looked at care records and saw consent had been obtained from parents and documentation signed accordingly. We spoke with staff who told us they used people's care records to gain up to date information and to add new information as necessary, in order to best support people's wishes.

We observed care in one child's home, provided by one member of staff. We saw staff communicated well with the parent and child, skilfully followed the child's cues and responded to their wishes.

We spoke with one parent in person and two parents by telephone to gain their views. They told us they thought their children's care and welfare needs were met. One parent said: 'they are like a family to us' and asked that staff be 'heaped with praise'.

We found staff were safely recruited and there were robust systems in place to monitor the quality of staff's practice and the service provision. People we spoke with told us they understood the complaints procedure.

People (or their representative where they were unable to communicate themselves) said they were very satisfied with their care. Comments included:

'They are fabulous, a Godsend'

'If I didn't trust them I wouldn't let them take [my relative] out'

'The quality of care is excellent'

All of the people spoken with felt they were treated with dignity and respect and had their privacy maintained by all the staff. We saw evidence of peoples needs being fully assessed and information for families received prior to commencing with the service.

The manager told us of how the service aimed to provide people with regular care staff to provide continuity of care.

Staff we spoke with had worked for the service for a long time so knew people who use the service very well.

Archived: Home Based Breaks Service

All Inspections

8 July 2014

During a routine inspection

6 September 2013

During a routine inspection

20 September 2012

During a routine inspection