Archived: Quality Care Providers (Domiciliary Care)

Quality Care Providers (Domiciliary Care) provides personal care to adults living in their own homes. The people they support have varying needs including physical disabilities, mental health, sensory impairment, learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the service. Of those, six people lived in shared accommodation in supported living facilities. The remaining person lived with their family. The organisation also provides day services at the same address. However, this report only relates to the provision of personal care to the seven people using the service in their own homes. The day opportunity services fall outside the regulatory remit of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and were not assessed as part of this inspection.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was not available during this inspection. The service manager was managing the service in the absence of the registered manager and assisted us on both days of the inspection.

Staff had a good understanding of how to keep people safe and their responsibilities for reporting accidents, incidents or concerns. Staff had the knowledge and confidence to identify safeguarding concerns and acted on these to keep people safe.

People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity was promoted. They were treated with care and kindness and they were supported to be as independent as possible. People said their care and support workers were kind and supported them in the way they wanted them to. Staff were responsive to the needs of the people they supported and enabled them to improve and maintain their independence with personal care. Risks to people’s personal safety were assessed and plans were in place to minimise those risks.

People received support that was individualised to their specific needs. Their needs were monitored and care plans reviewed and updated as changes occurred. People's rights to make their own decisions, where possible, were protected. People confirmed they were involved in decision-making about their care and support needs.

There were safe medicines administration systems in place and people received their medicines when required. People's health and wellbeing was monitored and prompt action was taken to deal with any problems as needed.

People were supported by sufficient staff to meet their individual needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed before new staff were employed to work with people. Checks were made to ensure staff were of good character and suitable for their role.

People received effective care and support from staff who were well trained and knew how people liked things done. Staff received effective supervision and their work was reviewed in yearly appraisals.

People benefitted from receiving a service from staff who worked well together and felt management worked with them as a team. Quality assurance systems were in place to monitor the quality of service being delivered and the running of the service.

The person we spoke with told us their care plans were accurate and the care they received was of a high standard. They said staff helped them get ready and were always friendly and professional in their approach. The people we spoke with told us staff helped them with personal care and supported them to participate in group visits and activities. Two care workers told us they had been provided with appropriate training courses, one of which was safeguarding training, which they had both completed in the last twelve months to support them to recognise different types of abuse and understand what their duties and responsibilities were with regards to safeguarding vulnerable adults.

We spoke with the registered manager who demonstrated a good understanding of the support needs of people using the service and were able to clearly verbally demonstrate their understanding of staff responsibilities to keep people using the service safe from any suspected abuse. The staff we spoke with told us they were encouraged and supported to attend regular training and had regular supervision.

People were supported in consenting to their care and treatment. Care was planned with the involvement of the people who use the service and reflected people's individual needs. People who use the service told us they trusted the staff and felt safe in their care.

The provider had an effective recruitment process in place to ensure people who use the service were not placed at risk of being cared for by staff who were not suitable to provide their care and treatment.

There were systems for monitoring the quality and safety of services provided to people which included recording and investigating complaints, and collecting feedback from people who use the service. People we spoke with were aware of who they would speak to if they had any complaints. Where improvements to services were required, these were made.