Background to this inspection
Updated
17 June 2021
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 two inspectors.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in a number of ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be certain the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 23 April 2021 and ended on 5 May 2021. We visited the office location on 27 April 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we hold on our systems and sought feedback from local authority safeguarding teams and commissioners.
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager and one support worker. People using the service did not wish to speak with us on the day of the inspection so we reviewed recent feedback that they had given to the provider to assess their views and opinions of the care they received.
We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with two professionals who work closely with the provider and people who use the service. We sought feedback from relatives by telephone.
Updated
17 June 2021
About the service
Swanton Community Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people with mental health needs, physical disability, autism or learning disability who live in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, they were providing a service to 26 people, 19 of whom were receiving support with a regulated activity.
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 this service and what we found
People were happy with their care and support. People told us that they had good relationships with staff and felt included in the planning and reviews of their care and support.
The provider had successfully improved quality assurance systems and was focussed on engaging with people who use the service for feedback. The registered manager had supported people to achieve positive outcomes and had a clear vision for the development of the service. This was supported by staff, senior managers and local authority commissioners.
Care plans were developed in a person centred way and led by the person involved. Staff had confidence in the quality of the care plans and risk assessments. This helped them fully understand people’s needs and respond appropriately.
Staff told us the registered manager was supportive and encouraged them to contribute ideas for service improvement.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection (and update)
The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 19 June 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions Safe and Well-Led. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Swanton Community Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.