Background to this inspection
Updated
21 September 2018
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
This was a comprehensive, unannounced inspection. We visited the provider’s office on 18 June and we spoke with staff and people’s relatives on 29 June and 2 July 2018. The inspection team consisted of one inspector.
Before our inspection the provider sent us their completed Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and any improvements they plan to make. We spoke with local authority care commissioners for people’s care at the service. We also looked at all the key information we held about the service. This included written notifications about changes, events or incidents that providers must tell us about. We also reviewed completed care questionnaire surveys we received in November 2017 from two staff, and two community professionals, concerned with people’s care at the service.
At this inspection we spoke with five people’s relatives and five care staff, a care team leader; an assistant director for the provider and the registered manager. We also spoke with three community professionals concerned with people’s care at the service. We looked at three people’s care records and other records relating to the management of the service. This included staffing, medicines, complaints and safeguarding records; the provider’s checks of quality, safety and related service improvement plans. We did this to gain a representation of views about people’s care and to check that standards of care were being met.
Updated
21 September 2018
This service provides personal care and support to people living with learning disabilities, including some with physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people using the service across two supported living settings in Derbyshire. This enables people to live in their own home 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 is run from an office in the village of Creswell, near Worksop in North East Derbyshire. We carried out this inspection on the 18 & 29 June and 2 July 2018, 13. We visited the provider on 18 June and spoke with staff and relatives on the 29 June and 2 July 2018. The provider was given 3 working days’ notice of our inspection as we wanted to make sure the registered manager was available to support our inspection.
There was a registered manager for the service. 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 personal have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
At our last inspection in February 2016 we rated the service as Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection in October 2015.
People continued to receive safe care from staff who were safely recruited to help ensure this. The provider’s medicines, risk management, staffing and care systems were effectively operated and followed by staff when required for people’s care. This helped to protect people from the risk of harm or abuse.
People continued to receive effective care. People were provided with care in line with their assessed needs and choices and received consistent, timely support when they moved between services. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible: polices and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported to maintain or improve their health and nutrition, in consultation with external health professionals when required. Staff were trained to carry out their role and responsibilities for people’s care. Revised care induction and staff support systems were recently introduced to ensure this.
People continued to receive care from staff who were kind, caring and had established good relationships with them and their relatives. Staff treated people with respect and promoted their rights and emotional support. Staff followed what was important to people for their care and daily living arrangements. People were supported to express their views about the service and provided with accessible information to help them understand what they could expect from their care. The provider ensured relevant principles for people’s confidentiality and rights in their care, were understood and followed by staff. This helped to ensure people were treated equally as ordinary citizens.
People continued to receive responsive care. People’s care was timely and supported their individual needs and wishes. Staff understood how to communicate with people effectively, in a way that was helpful and meaningful to them. People were supported to engage with others and participate in routine and preferred daily living activities within their own home and often in the local community. Action was in progress to obtain an additional, suitably adapted vehicle to optimise people’s choice and opportunities for community access. The provider’s arrangements for complaints handling and obtaining regular feedback from relevant parties, about the quality of the service, helped to inform and improve people’s care experience.
The service continued to be well led. The provider operated effective systems to ensure the quality and safety of people’s care, ongoing service improvement and external partnership working to help inform and improve people’s care experience. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities for people’s care. People’s care was effectively managed, informed and lawful. The provider met their legal obligations, to share relevant information with us about people’s care, and to inform others with an interest about our judgements.
Further information is in the detailed findings below