12/13 Church Walk

Updated 19 February 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

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 is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service a short period of notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 17 December 2021 and ended on 17 January 2022. We undertook the inspection using remote technology on 17 December 2021.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We looked at notifications. Notifications are important information or events the service must tell us about, by law.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. We carried out phone calls and email communication to enable us to engage with people using the service, staff and professionals.

We reviewed five people’s care and risk assessment records. We reviewed staff training documentation. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

We spoke with one person who used the service and seven relatives about their experience of the care provided. We communicated with 11 members of staff including the registered manager.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We contacted nine professionals who work with the service.

Updated 19 February 2022

About the service

12/13 Church Walk is a domiciliary care service. They provide personal care to people living in their own homes.

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

People received a kind and caring service. Staff were compassionate and committed to delivering high standards of care. The registered manager led by example and had strong person-centred values.

Staff enjoyed their jobs and felt supported by the management team. They were knowledgeable about the people they supported and promoted people’s dignity and independence.

People's care records, medicines administration records and risk assessments were regularly reviewed and staff followed guidance to meet their needs appropriately.

Staff were well trained and their competency was regularly checked. The service had good working relationships with other professionals.

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.

The service was well-led. They had effective quality assurance processes in place including audits and the service provision was well monitored.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• The registered manager took time to understand people’s specific personalities, routines and behaviours to ensure their support was consistent and individual to them.

Right care:

• The support provided by staff was kind and caring. Care plans reflected their person centred approach. People's independence, human rights and inclusion were promoted.

Right culture:

• The ethos and values of promoting inclusivity and opportunity of the registered manager fed down to the staff team. The management team worked along side support staff and led by example.

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

Rating at last inspection This service was registered with us on 16 September 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on our inspection schedule.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.