United Response - Bury DCA

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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. The registered manager had been in post since August 2017.

Staff we spoke with were aware of how to protect vulnerable people and had safeguarding policies and procedures to guide them, which included the contact details of the local authority to report to.

Recruitment procedures were robust and ensured new staff should be safe to work with vulnerable adults. There were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs.

There was a medicines policy and guidance for staff around safe administration. Care givers had undertaken training and competency checks were regularly undertaken.

Staff were trained in infection control topics and issued with personal protective equipment to help prevent the spread of infection.

The service was working within the legal requirements of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

People received a nutritious diet and were encouraged to plan their diet, shop and where possible were supported to make their own meals.

Staff received an induction and were supported when they commenced employment to become competent to work with vulnerable people. Staff were well trained and supervised to feel confident within their roles. Staff were encouraged to take further training in health and social care topics such as a diploma.

We visited three people in their own homes and saw staff knew people well and had a kind and caring attitude.

People had a range of activities they could attend which was suitable to their age, gender and beliefs.

There was a relevant complaints procedure. There had been no recent complaints.

There was a recognised management structure. Staff thought the service was well-led and the two people we talked to thought staff were approachable. We observed staff interacting with people who used the service in a friendly and appropriate manner.

There were systems to check the quality of service provision to help management maintain and improve standards.

The service liaised well with other organisations to help meet people’s health and social care needs.

The service were last inspected on 08 January 2014 when they met all the regulations we inspected.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

We visited two houses where people were accommodated. We were unable to communicate with people who used the service due to their complex needs. We observed the interaction between staff and people who used the service. Staff understood the needs of the people they cared for because they had been caring for them for some time. Staff spoke to people and waited for a response and from their experience knew what the person wanted.

During our inspection we found an easy read booklet was in place in people’s care records entitled ‘No More Abuse’ for service users. This covered topics such as, what abuse is, the types of abuse, who abuses, people’s rights and who people could talk to. We did not see any evidence that this had been read by people who used the service.

Records showed that robust recruitment processes were followed by the service when employing new members of staff.

Training records we looked at showed that staff had received training in areas such as, health and safety, food safety, safeguarding adults, quality and diversity, autism, mental capacity act and DoLS, fire safety, first aid, enteral feeding, child protection, risk assessments, epilepsy, medicine administration, diabetes, person centred planning and nutrition and diet.

People in their own homes are not subjected to DoLS. However, staff were trained in the MCA and DoLS to ensure they were aware of the principles. The registered manager told us they would report any suspected restrictions on people to social services as a safeguarding concern.

People who used the service had health actions plans in place. These recorded the support the person needed to remain healthy or when accessing healthcare services.

We observed interactions between staff members and people who used the service. We saw staff treated people with dignity and respect and were caring in their approach.

We looked at a number of care plans for people who used the service. We saw these were person centred and had been created using photographs to help people understand and contribute to what was included in them. People’s regular routines were also documented.

We looked at the quality assurance systems in place within the service and found that these were sufficiently robust to identify areas for improvement.

Staff meetings were held on a regular basis. Minutes we looked at showed areas for discussion included, holidays, people who used the service, recruitment, training, news, the care certificate and safeguarding.