20 October 2022
During a routine inspection
Dimensions Oxfordshire and Warwickshire is a Domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in ‘supported living’ settings. The service provides support to people with a learning disability and autism. At the time of our inspection there were 96 people using the service. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, 76 people were supported with personal care by this service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were supported by staff who were recruited safely and received training relevant to their role. The national health and social care recruitment challenges had impacted this staffing levels at this service, however there were systems in place to mitigate the impact as much as possible. Medicines were managed, stored and administered in line with guidance. Staff followed infection control guidance and the service had appropriate policies and procedures for the management of infectious diseases. Accidents and Incidents were reviewed by the registered manager and area managers. However we saw some incidents were not always notified to CQC appropriately.
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. We observed this service was meeting the principles of this guidance.
Right Support: 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: People told us they were happy with the way they were supported, and we observed staff treated people respectfully and with kindness. People were supported to express views and make decisions about their care.
People's care was bespoke to them as individuals and their preferences as well as cultural and spiritual needs were supported by staff. People were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them and be an active part of their community.
Right Culture: The service had a culture which was person-centred and promoted good outcomes for people. The management team regularly sought feedback from people, professionals and their relatives and used this to plan service improvement. The management team maintained good relationships with external professionals and worked effectively with them.
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 13 May 2021 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection.
We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.
We have identified breaches in relation to statutory notifications. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.