Background to this inspection
Updated
1 November 2022
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
One inspector carried out the inspection.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in three 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
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. In this service the registered manager was also to nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.
Inspection activity started on 14 June 2022 and ended on 2 August 2022. We visited the office location on 14 June 2022.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed the information we had received about the service. We contacted Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with two people who used the service and one relative about their experience of the care provided. Both people we spoke to were able to successfully use the telephone or a video call.
We spoke with four members of staff including the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two 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. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.
Updated
1 November 2022
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.
About the service
Younique Care is a supported living service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection the service supported three people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support
The provider didn’t always demonstrate best practice around assessing mental capacity, supporting decision-making and best interest decision-making. This meant people’s rights might not be protected, either to make their own decisions or to be kept safe by best interest decisions being made for them where needed.
However, we found evidence staff were supportive and ensured people had choice in their lives. For example, one person told us who chose what they ate, “Me and my staff, we choose together”. Another person told us “I don’t want to change them, they’re absolutely perfect. They just asked me what support I needed and I told them.”
The service enabled people and those important to them to work with staff to develop the service. Staff valued and acted upon people’s views.
Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs.
One person told us “They are doing their jobs well. Yes, they’re doing a wonderful job taking care of me.”
Right Care
People received kind and compassionate care. One relative told us “Since they’ve been supporting [person] it’s been brilliant. They are very caring and they love [person] to bits.” Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.
Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.
The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.
Right culture
Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting people to live their lives as they wished.
Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.
The service enabled people and those important to them to work with staff to develop the service. Staff valued and acted upon people’s views.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We identified a breach in relation to the need for consent.
We have made a recommendation about recording gaps in staff employment.
We have made a recommendation about collating support information in one document where possible.
We have made a recommendation about audits of the service.
Follow up
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.