Blossom HCG Ltd

Updated 25 February 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 6 ‘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

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ 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 available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 06 February 2023 and ended on 21 February 2023. We visited people in their own homes to gather their views about the service on 13 and 18 February 2023. We had a video call with the senior management team to share feedback on 21 February 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 external 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 received feedback from 2 people and relatives of 6 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback from 4 external professionals and 15 staff members including support staff, team leaders and the management team. We reviewed a range of records relating to the overall management of the service, including care plans and risk assessments, staff training records, evidence of monitoring staff practice and overall governance.

Updated 25 February 2023

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.

About the service

Blossom HCG is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to 15 people living within 6 supported living environments at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Right Support:

Staff communicated with people in their individual and preferred methods. This meant people could be fully involved in decisions about their support.

Staff supported people to be as independent as they could if this was their choice.

People had support to pursue their interests and achieve their identified goals.

People received safe and effective support with their medicines.

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.

Right Care:

Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of how to support people effectively. The management team were implementing systems to manage staffing matters including how knowledge and competency was being checked.

People’s support plans varied in the level of detail and information provided for staff to follow. The registered manager was able to demonstrate care plans were in the process of being reviewed to help ensure consistency across the service.

Management and staff promoted people’s equality and diversity and knew them well as individuals. People received kind and compassionate care which fully promoted their privacy and dignity.

Staff prompted people to try new experiences which may enhance their well-being and enjoyment of life.

Right Culture:

People and those important to them were involved in planning their support.

People received consistent care and support from a team who knew them well and understood their individual needs. Management and staff strove to achieve good quality care and good outcomes for people.

People received good quality care and support and were supported to lead inclusive and empowered lives.

Feedback from people and relatives about the service was positive.

The management and team were passionate about continually improving the service and supporting people to achieve their goals and aspirations.

The provider’s new quality monitoring systems were not yet fully embedded in daily practice having been delayed due to significant staff shortages. A successful recruitment campaign had reduced the pressure on the staff and a tiered management structure was now in place. We have made a recommendation for the provider to concentrate on embedding their new quality assurance and governance systems into day to day practice across the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 10 July 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 04 June 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and overall governance of the service.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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 changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Blossom HCG 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.