Background to this inspection
Updated
24 April 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
This inspection was carried out by two inspectors. One inspector visited the registered office and the supported living scheme and the second inspector completed inspection activity by e-mail and phone.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home. This service also provides care and support to people living in one ‘supported living’ setting, 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 short notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 29 March 2021 and ended on 13 April 2021. We visited the supported living scheme on 29 March 2021 and visited the office location on 13 April 2021. In addition to the on-site inspection, we also completed the inspection via phone and e-mail. On 09 and 12 April 2021 telephone calls were made to people, relatives and staff to gain their feedback.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection and formal notifications that the service had sent to the CQC. Notifications are information that registered persons are required to tell us about by law that may affect people’s health and wellbeing.
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
During the office visit, we spoke with the registered manager and a support worker. We reviewed five staff recruitment records, one person’s care plans and risk assessments and medicine management records. We also reviewed health and safety records.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at a further two care plans, policies and procedures, quality assurance information and training information. We spoke with one person, two relatives and five support staff.
Updated
24 April 2021
About the service
DHR Support Services Ltd is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own home in the community and within supported living projects. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and people with a mental health condition. The service was supporting three people at the time of the inspection.
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 and content with the care and support they received from DHR Support Services Ltd.
Relatives of people using the service spoke positively of the service and the care and support that their family member received, stating that the service worked in partnership with them and their family member ensuring their needs were appropriately met.
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. The model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and independence. Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives
We observed people interacting with support staff in ways which assured us that people felt safe and were happy in the ways in which they were supported. Staff knew the signs to look for if abuse was suspected and told us of the actions they would take to protect people from abuse.
Support plans detailed people’s identified risks associated with their health and care needs, with clear guidance to staff on how to manage those risks to keep people safe.
Policies and systems in place gave assurance that people’s medicines were managed and administered safely ensuring people received their medicines as prescribed.
We observed sufficient numbers of staff available to assist people with their assessed needs. Recruitment processes ensured that only those staff assessed as safe to work with vulnerable adults were employed.
Support plans were person centred and detailed, giving support staff the appropriate information and guidance to support people with their needs and wishes.
Management oversight processes in place enabled the service to monitor the quality of care people received. Where issues were identified these were addressed immediately with further learning and development implemented to improve people’s experiences.
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 09 November 2017).
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 19 October 2017. The service was rated good at that time. Due to the length of time since the last inspection, we undertook this focused inspection to check and confirm that the service continued to meet legal requirements.
We reviewed the key questions of safe, caring and well-led only to check and ensure people were receiving safe, good quality care.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
During this inspection we did not identify any areas of concern and found that the service had continued to meet legal requirements. Please see the safe, caring and well-led sections of this report for further detail.
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.