We carried out a review of the data available to us about Hilltop House (Domiciliary Care) on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Hilltop House (Domiciliary Care), you can give feedback on this service.
Hilltop House (Domiciliary Care) is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide people with personal care. The service supports people who have a physical disability. Support is provided to people living in one of eleven self-contained flats in a single building. Staff support is available 24 hours per day. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care support to 11 people.
The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with physical disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Staff were exceptionally caring and encouraged people to live as full a life as possible and supported to live the life they wanted. Staff had formed positive relationships with the people they supported and looked for ways to make them feel valued. People were genuinely encouraged to express their goals and wishes, and the service looked for ways to make these happen. Staff knew people exceptionally well and used this knowledge to support them to achieve their goals. Staff were considerate of people's feelings at all times and treated people with the utmost respect and dignity.
People benefitted from a service that had dedicated leaders and staff whose experience was used to support people to lead full and meaningful lives. The values of the provider were consistently demonstrated by staff in their interactions with people and with each other. People's views were sought and acted upon. The provider worked with other organisations to enhance its service delivery. The management team analysed survey results with an openness and commitment to continuously improve. Auditing was directed at reviewing any lessons learnt to maximise people's safety and quality of life.
Care plans had been developed and staff knew the people they were supporting extremely well. Staff worked hard to promote people's right to make their own decisions about their care where possible and respected the choices they made. People's consent was always obtained.
People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited and who received the training and support to understand and meet their needs.
People had access to a wide range of personalised and group activities and were supported to have a say in all aspects of how the service was delivered.
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.
The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensured that people who used the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published 2 September 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.
At the last inspection of 11 May 2015, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service remained Good.
People continued to be safe at the service because staff had received training and were aware of procedures to safeguard people from abuse and manage risks to their health. Each person had a support plan and staff were aware of people’s individual needs and the times to deliver support. There were enough suitably knowledgeable staff that had been recruited safely. People received their medicines as prescribed.
Staff received training and supervision to enable to them to provide the support to people with regard to their assessed needs. People gave consent to the support they received. People were given support to manage their nutrition and accessed healthcare services when required.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service support this practice.
Staff were empathic and treated people with understanding. People’s privacy and dignity were respected. Staff encouraged people to maintain and develop their independent living skills.
People continued to receive support that met their individual needs and preferences. Each person had an assessment of their needs and support plan which was updated regularly as required. Staff encouraged people to pursue their hobbies and interests. People knew how to raise a complaint and were confident any concerns raised would be addressed and resolved.
An open and positive culture was maintained by the service. The registered manager led and supported the staff team to focus upon person-centred support. Quality checks and audits remained in place so that issues were identified and resolutions for improvements put in place.
Further information is in the detailed findings below.
The inspection took place on 11 May 2015 and was announced. The service received 24 hours’ notice of our intention to inspect the service. This is in line with our current methodology for inspecting domiciliary care agencies.
The service provides care and support to people with physical disabilities who share flats within a communal building. At the time of our inspection11 people were receiving a service. One of these people was primarily supported by another agency and staff from this service only gave occasional assistance for moving and handling tasks.
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 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Staff were trained in safeguarding people from abuse and systems were in place to protect people from financial abuse. Staff understood their responsibilities to report any safeguarding concerns they may have.
Risks to people and staff were assessed and action taken to minimise these risks. People were encouraged to remain as independent as possible and any risks related to this were assessed.
Staffing levels meant that people’s needs were met appropriately. Recruitment procedures ensured that staff were suitable for this type of work and checks were carried out before people started work to make sure they were safe to work in this setting.
Medicines were administered safely and records related to medicines were accurately completed.
Training was provided for staff to help them carry out their roles and increase their knowledge of the healthcare conditions of the people they were supporting and caring for.
People gave their consent before care and treatment was provided. Some staff had received training in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2015. The MCA ensures that, where people lack capacity to make decisions for themselves, decisions are made in their best interests according to a structured process. People’s capacity to give consent had been assessed and decisions had been taken in line with legal requirements.
People were supported with their eating and drinking needs and staff helped people to maintain good health by supporting them with their day to day healthcare needs.
Staff were very caring and treated people respectfully making sure their dignity was maintained. Staff were positive about the job they did and enjoyed the relationships they had built with the people they were supporting and caring for. All the staff we spoke with told us they would be happy for a relative of theirs to be supported by the service.
People were involved in planning and reviewing their care and were encouraged to provide feedback on the service. People were able to negotiate how they wanted their care hours and the service was flexible enough to accommodate these requests.
No formal complaints had been made but informal issues were dealt with appropriately and to people’s satisfaction.
Staff understood their roles and were well supported by the management of the service. The service had an open culture and people felt comfortable giving feedback and helping to direct the way the service was run.
Quality assurance systems were in place and audits were carried out regularly to monitor the delivery of the service.