Background to this inspection
Updated
14 March 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by two adult social care inspectors.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults and to younger adults, some of whom live in one of six supported living settings.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 25 January 2019 and ended on 14 February 2019. We visited the office location on 25 January 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did:
Before the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
We also reviewed the information we held about the service, such as notifications we had received from the registered provider. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also spoke with social workers, health care practitioners and commissioners of care during our regular contact with them. We planned the inspection using this information.
During inspection we spoke with eight people and three relatives by phone and met seven people in their own homes during our two visits to supported living services. We looked at twelve care files and related forms including records of medicines and care delivery.
We also looked at six staff records related to personnel issues and safety issues and to some of the policies and procedures of the registered provider.
Updated
14 March 2019
About the service:
This service is a domiciliary care agency that provides care to around 50 people in their own homes.
This service also provides care and support to around 35 people living in six 'supported living' settings where they can live in their own home as independently as possible.
People’s experience of using this service:
The outcomes for people living with a learning disability who used the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support. For example, people's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.
People we spoke with gave us positive feedback on the support and services they received. They felt safe and well supported by the staff teams and they told us they had no concerns.
People told us there were enough staff to support them and they judged that they were suitably trained and managed.
People told us they were satisfied with the way the staff helped them to manage their medicines.
We learned that people were protected from cross infection because staff had suitable equipment and training.
The registered manager and the senior team had a good understanding of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
People told us that they were asked for consent before interactions.
People had nutrition and hydration included in care plans and told us the staff helped them to eat well.
People told us they were supported to access health care support and to attend appointments. Staff were trained to call on the support of health care professionals for emergencies.
People told us that staff were caring and kind. Staff were trained in person centred care and in all the aspects of privacy and dignity. People could have the support of an advocate if required.
Good assessment of need and ability was in place. Care planning encouraged independence and skills building for some people. Care plans were detailed and people told us they had been involved with writing their plans. The plans included people's wishes in relation to their social life and we saw lots evidence to show that people were supported to go out and to make new friends in the community.
The service had a newly appointed manager who was in the process of registering with the Care Quality Commission. She was ensuring that quality services continued to be delivered.
For more details, please see the full report which is on CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
At the last inspection the service was rated as good. The last report was published in August 2016.
Why we inspected:
This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up:
We noted that although every staff member received annual training in how to move and handle people and objects, no staff members had attended more advanced training. The service used occupational therapists to support them with complex moving and handling.
We made a recommendation that the provider consider further training for some staff in assessing need, formulating moving and handling plans and in checking staff competence. We will follow this up as part of our ongoing monitoring of the service.