Archived: Royal Mencap Society - Kent Domiciliary Care Agency

Royal Mencap Society - Edenbridge is registered to provide personal care. They support a small number of adults with learning disabilities who live in their own tenancies in the Edenbridge and Uckfield areas with their personal care and other needs. The domiciliary agency also provides practical day to day support to a larger group of people with learning disabilities in an outreach or supported living capacity.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

At the previous inspection on 6 February 2014, the agency met the regulations.

People and a friend said the service provided was what people needed. The support they received was flexible to meet people’s needs and the designated tasks were carried out satisfactorily and on time. People thought the service provided was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

The records were kept up to date and covered all aspects of the care and support people received, their choices and identified and met their needs. They were clearly recorded, fully completed, and contained regularly reviewed information that enabled staff to perform their duties.

Staff where knowledgeable about the people they were providing a service for and the way the people liked to be supported. Staff provided care and support in a professional and friendly way that was focussed on the individual and they had appropriate skills to do so. Staff had received induction and refresher training that enabled them to carry out their tasks.

If required people were encouraged to discuss with the manager and staff, any health and other needs that may affect the way support was provided. Agreed information was passed on to GP’s and other community based health professionals, if appropriate. If required staff were available to protect people from nutrition and hydration associated risks by giving advice about healthy food options and balanced diets. This was whilst still making sure people’s meal likes, dislikes and preferences were met.

The agency staff knew about the Mental Capacity Act and their responsibilities regarding it.

People told us the office, management team and organisation were approachable, responsive, encouraged feedback and monitored and assessed the quality of the service provided.

We saw that people were supported by staff in a caring and sensitive way. One person came back from shopping and told us that they were happy living in their house. We saw that staff promoted people's independence, for example, people were supported to put shopping away.

We spoke with some relatives of people who used the service over the telephone. They all told us they felt their relative was supported well by staff in the home. One relative said "Staff are really good and my relative is very happy ". Another relative told us 'The service provides lots of activities and encouraged people in taking part to promote their independence, my relative is always looking forward to going back to their home which shows that they are happy where they are living.' Relatives of people spoke highly of staff and described them as "Caring', 'Amicable' and 'Helpful ". They told us that they would feel confident to raise a complaint should they need to do so.

People were protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider did have appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines.

People were protected from the risks of unsafe or inappropriate care and treatment because accurate and appropriate records were maintained.

There were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet people's needs.

There was an effective complaints system available.

We spoke with four staff who worked across the Edenbridge and Uckfield locations. They told us they received an appropriate range of training to provide the knowledge and skills they needed to do the job. They said they felt well supported by their team colleagues and by management at the local level and were provided with opportunities to meet and express their views. However, staff said that they thought senior management had become disengaged from front face staff and were out of touch. Staff said they would welcome more regular visits to team meetings from senior managers.

We also spoke with four out of the eight people who were supported with their personal care. They told us they were satisfied with the care they received. They said that they found staff kind and friendly. They told us that they were involved in making decisions about their care, and made everyday decisions and choices for themselves. They said staff spoke with them regularly about the support they received and their views about this.