HF Trust - Shropshire & Staffordshire DCA

Updated 19 September 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. 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 6 August 2019 and ended on 6 August 2019. We visited the office location on 6 August 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information we held about the service to plan the inspection. This included checking for any statutory notifications that the provider had sent to us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We used this information to plan our inspection. We also used information the provider sent to us in the Provider Information Return (PIR) to formulate our inspection plan. A PIR is key information we require from providers on an annual basis giving us key information about the service. We also sought feedback from the local Healthwatch and the local authority. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with four people who used the service. We also spoke with the area manager, the registered manager and five support staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medicine administration records. We also looked at quality assurance records, as well as two recruitment and training records.

Following the inspection, we received written feedback from a social care professional who had recently worked with the registered manager.

Updated 19 September 2019

About the service

HF Trust - West Midlands DCA is a domiciliary care service providing care and support to nine people with learning disabilities and other complex health needs in their own homes.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received safe and effective care and support. Risks were assessed and managed to enable people to live independent lives. Staff were vigilant to identify risks and take action to ensure people remained safe.

People received timely support from a consistent staff team. Overall systems used for the management of medicines were effective and changes to monitoring processes immediately following the inspection will make the overall monitoring process more robust.

People’s needs were assessed and reviewed to ensure their care needs were met. Care plans were detailed and effective to ensure staff always had access to the most current information.

Staff received training relevant to their role and had good support from the registered manager and their colleagues.

Staff sought people’s consent before supporting them and decisions about people’s care and treatment were made in line with law and guidance. People received enough to eat and drink to maintain their health. People were supported to access healthcare, and other agencies, when required. The registered manager worked in partnership with health and social care professionals to ensure consistency and ensure people received appropriate support.

People’s care was responsive to their changing needs. People, and their relatives, were involved in the assessment and planning of their care and good communication was central to enable people to work together to ensure people’s needs were met fully. People knew how to raise a concern and always felt listened to.

People, staff and professionals felt the service was well managed. People, and staff, had regular opportunities to share their views about the service. The provider carried out audits to ensure the quality of care provided.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected:

This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published December 2016).

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.