Archived: Your Homes Newcastle Limited

Updated 6 November 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 4 and 5 August 2015 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice as it is a domiciliary service and we needed to be sure people would be available. The visit was undertaken by an adult social care 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. The expert by experience telephoned people using the service, their families and carers over the 9, 11, 12 and 13 August 2015.

Before the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send us within required timescales. Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the visit we spoke with four staff including the registered manager, nine people who used the service or their relatives if they were unable to communicate via phone. We also spoke with two external professionals who regularly had contact with the service.

Five care records were reviewed as was the staff training programme. Other records reviewed included, near miss/ incident reports, handover records, one staff’s recruitment/ induction/ supervision and training files, and staff meeting minutes. The registered manager’s action planning process was discussed with them as were meetings with the other provider at Trevelyan Court of personal care and commissioners of the service.

Updated 6 November 2015

This was an announced inspection which took place over two days, 4 & 5 August 2015. This is the services first inspection since registration in April 2014. As the service had only started operating two months before this inspection there was not enough evidence, so the service was inspected but not rated.

Your Homes Newcastle Limited (YHN) is a domiciliary care service that is registered for the regulated activity of personal care. The service provides care and support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to 43 people at Trevelyan Court, a housing with care scheme. YHN provides the service at Trevelyan from 8pm to 8am. Another registered domiciliary provider covers the day time activity and support. Trevelyan Court is made up of flats with a secure entry system, and bungalows.

There was a registered manager in post since 2014. 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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

As the service had only recently started operating there was a lack of evidence in order to rate the service. With the provision of care being shared with another provider, who provided most of the personal care, YHN provided mainly responsive night time cover. We could see from records and talking to staff that most of the planned care was arranged via the handover at 8pm between the day time provider and YHN staff.

The service had taken steps to make sure people were safe in their new accommodation, that risks had been assessed and that snags in the new building were quickly resolved.

There was enough staff to meet the needs of people and respond to requests for support and respond to changes in their needs flexibly.

Staff had been trained into their new roles and were supported through induction and regular supervision from senior workers. There were some areas of training that had not been identified by the provider and they agreed to address this.

The service liaised with and assisted people to access health care professionals and worked alongside them to support people.

The staff had organised activities and events for people using the service based on their wishes, needs and preferences.

Care plans were not detailed enough to describe how best to support people or how they had been involved in their assessment and their consent had been given.

The service had a registered manager and senior staff who were visible in the service to staff and people. Not all people were clear about the differing care providers.