Advantage Healthcare - North West & Yorkshire

Advantage Healthcare - North West & Yorkshire is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to adults and children with complex needs. At the time of this inspection 41 people were using the service.

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

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. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support:

Staff knew and understood people extremely well. People received care and support from a consistent team of dedicated staff. 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. Care plans were detailed and person-centred. The care plans provided guidance for staff about how best to support people's needs and preferences, and the outcomes to be achieved. People and relatives were involved in the care planning and regular reviews.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care. People who provided feedback to us praised the service. People received person-centred care of a high standard. Staff were caring, kind and understanding and treated people with respect and dignity. Staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs. People were protected from the risks of abuse and staff were trusted to keep them safe. Staff had received training in how to safeguard people. Medicines were managed safely. People's care needs were risk assessed and care plans provided staff with the information they needed to manage the identified risk.

Right Culture:

Staff placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. The culture of the service was friendly, open and transparent. People, relatives and staff were listened to, and their feedback used to inform improvement and development. Auditing systems were in place that enabled the registered managers to have effective oversight of the service and identify and respond to any improvements needed. People told us they felt safe and knew how to raise concerns.

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 13 December 2017).

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

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 last inspected the service on 24 and 27 October and 3 November 2016. At that inspection we rated the service ‘good’ in all areas. We carried out this inspection following a move to new premises.

People we spoke with were complimentary about the care and support they received from Interserve Healthcare. They told us they felt safe, and that staff were caring and patient. Care staff treated people who they were assisting with dignity and respect.

Appropriate recruitment checks had been carried out on all staff to ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable children and adults. Staff were knowledgeable about how to protect people from abuse.

All new staff had received a thorough induction, which included completion of mandatory training, such as moving and handling and infection control. In addition, staff had undertaken a variety of training in clinical areas that were specific to the people they cared for. This ensured they were competent to care for people with complex health needs. Staff received regular supervision and annual appraisals. These provided them with opportunities to voice any concerns and plan their professional development.

Staff supported people to receive their medicines and were competent to carry out a range of clinical tasks, such as caring for tracheostomies, percutaneous gastrostomy tubes (PEG) and non-invasive ventilation.

Risk assessments, both environmental and personal had been completed and were reviewed regularly, to minimise risks to staff and people who used the service. Assessments of people’s needs were comprehensive and care plans were detailed. They provided staff with sufficient information to guide them on how to care for each person in the correct way.

People and their relatives were involved in the assessment and care planning processes. The service was working within the principles of the Mental capacity Act 2005.

Accidents, incidents and complaints were recorded and dealt with appropriately. People knew how to contact the service and to make a complaint if they needed to.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. These included the use of regular audits and quarterly client questionnaires. These gave people an opportunity to comment on the service and the care provided by Interserve Healthcare.

The service valued the hard work of staff and rewarded them through a system of monthly rewards. Staff told us they appreciated this gesture.