HF Trust - Newcastle DCA

Updated 9 February 2024

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 27 November 2023 and ended on 12 December 2023. We visited the location’s office on 12 December 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 4 people who use the service and spent time with 2 others. We spoke with 7 relatives.

We spoke with six staff including the registered manager, service managers and support staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people’s care records and medicine records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment. We also viewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies and procedures.

Updated 9 February 2024

About the service

HF Trust - Newcastle DCA provides personal care and support to people with a learning disability who live in supported living houses across Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle. At the time of our inspection there were 41 people who received support 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 this 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

People were encouraged to be as independent as possible. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff assisted them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service upheld this practice.

Right Care

The service provided personalised care. The service had appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs. The provider assessed risks and staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

Right Culture

The culture in the service was positive. Staff understood the organisational values they shared with their colleagues and the supportive teamwork this created. The provider had robust quality assurance systems in place.

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 August 2018).

Why we inspected

We carried out this inspection due to the length of time since the last inspection.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions Safe and Well-led. 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 remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for HF Trust - Newcastle DCA on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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