Updated 25 June 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team: This inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.
Service and service type: Spectrum Care Services 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 visit because we needed to be sure that staff would be in the office to support the inspection.
We visited the office location on 30 April 2019 to meet with the registered manager and to review records connected with the management of the service. We also visited 3 supported houses on 8 May 2019.
What we did: We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we sought feedback from the local authority, and other professionals who work with the service. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually, which is called a provider information return (PIR), to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection we met seven people to explore their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two service managers and three support workers, as well as the registered manager and the nominated individual (person responsible for the organisation).
We reviewed the care plans and risk assessments for four people, three staff recruitment files, the training matrix for all staff and a range of records relating to the management of the service.