Social Life Opportunities (SoLo)

Social Life Opportunities (SoLo) - HSCA is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care and support to people in their own homes including people living in supported living settings. Supported living settings support people to live in their own home as independently as possible. At the time of our inspection the service supported five adults and three children with personal care.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right support

Known risks associated with people’s care were not always well-managed. Some people’s risk assessments did not provide staff with the information they needed to keep people safe. The model of care and settings maximised people’s choice and independence. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff were recruited safely and there were sufficient staff to provide people’s planned care and support.

Right care

People received personalised care and support from staff they knew and who understood their needs. Relatives had no concern about their family members safety and staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe. Staff followed safe infection prevention practice in people's homes.

Right culture

Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service and to drive improvement were not in place. The provider’s policies and procedures were not always effective or were not followed. An additional manager was being recruited to strengthen the management team structure to help drive improvements. Staff felt valued and supported by a registered manager who promoted an open and inclusive culture. The management team and staff worked in partnership with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for people.

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 02 November 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. The provider was in breach of regulations in relation to risk management and governance at the service. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed. We have identified breaches in relation to managing individual risk and the way the service was managed.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

SoLO Life opportunities is a charity which supports adults and children with a learning disability to access social and leisure activities. The personal assistance service provides personal care to both adults and children. There were 65 people using the service at the time of this inspection and 14 people were in receipt of the regulated activity personal care.

The inspection site visit took place on 15 October 2018 and was announced.

A requirement of the service's registration is that they have 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. A registered manager was in post.

People's relatives felt their family members were safe. Personal assistants completed safeguarding training and procedures were in place to protect people from harm. Personal assistants knew how to manage known risks and risk management plans provided them with the information they needed to provide care and support to people in the safest possible way.

Personal assistants received training to administer people’s medicines safely however, they did not administer people’s medicines on a regular basis. Detailed medicine protocols were in place to ensure people received their medicines when they needed them.

Staff continued to be recruited safely. Enough personal assistants were employed to meet people's needs. People's care and support was provided by consistent workers at the times people expected for the correct length of time.

People were assisted to eat and drink if this support was required. Personal assistants understood their responsibilities in relation to infection control and knew what action to take in the event of an emergency. A system to record any accidents and incidents that occurred was in place.

Personal assistants received an induction when they had started work at the service. They provided positive feedback about their training, they had the skills and knowledge they needed to meet people’s needs.

The provider was working within the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

Relatives were complimentary about the care provided and personal assistants spoke warmly about people. People were supported to be independent, they were treated with dignity and their right to privacy was respected.

Before anyone received their care and support from SoLO an assessment of their needs was undertaken. Care records we reviewed were up to date and showed the inclusion of people and their families.

Relatives felt communication between them and the service was good and information was shared with personal assistants to help them to provide the care people needed.

The management team and personal assistants understood the importance of promoting equality and human rights and the importance of keeping people's personal information confidential.

People received information about the service in a way they could understand and a system was in place to manage complaints about the service provided.

Relatives felt the service was well led and they spoke positively about the provider’s management team. Personal assistants had a clear understanding of their roles and felt supported by their managers.

The provider continued to involve people in the planning and running of the service and welcomed feedback from people and their families on the service they received.

Systems to monitor, assess and improve the quality and safety of the service were effective.

The provider continued to be active in their local community and worked in partnership with schools, colleges and local community groups.

The registered manager understood the responsibilities and the requirements of their registration.

SoLO Life Opportunities is a charity which supports adults and children with a learning disability to access social and leisure activities. The regulated Personal Assistant service provides one to one support for 35 people either in their own homes or in the community. At the time of our visit the service had three people who received personal care support.

The personal assistant 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. A registered manager had been in place since 2011.

Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe using the service. Staff had a good understanding of what constituted abuse and knew what actions to take if they had any concerns.

Checks were carried out prior to staff starting work to ensure their suitability to work with people who used the service. Staff received an induction to the organisation and completed a programme of training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively.

Care plans contained information for personal assistants (care staff) to help them provide personalised care to people. Staff knew about processes to minimise risks to people’s safety, as staff providing care were consistent, however, these were not always documented, so we could not be sure people would be supported safely.

People did not receive regular medicine from staff. Records did not always show how people should receive this to make sure it was administered as prescribed.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and how to support people with decision making.

People who required support had enough to eat and drink during the day and were assisted to manage their health needs.

People had personal assistants they were familiar with, who were flexible and completed the required tasks. There were enough staff to care for people they supported.

Relatives told us personal assistants were kind and caring and had the right skills and experience to provide the care their family member required. People were supported with dignity and respect.

People knew how to complain and could share their views and opinions about the service they received. Personal assistants felt they could raise any concerns or issues with the management team and they would be listened to and their concerns acted upon.

There were some processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, including surveys. There were other checks which ensured staff worked in accordance with policies and procedures.