Personal Assist South Yorkshire Also known as 1-5103752706

Personal Assist is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people in their own homes or flats. At the time of the inspection 26 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. At the time of the inspection 17 people were receiving care.

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

Care plans were person centred, however did not always contain enough information about how to support people with their communication or sensory needs. The registered manager did not have sufficient knowledge about how to provide quality care for people who have a learning disability and staff did not have appropriate training in this area. However, people and relatives told us they received the right support from staff. Risks to people were assessed and people were protected from the risk of unsafe care and harm.

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

The service had recently undergone some staffing and recruitment issues, which meant at times staff were late for calls. The provider had recognised these concerns and had taken action to address them, to improves people’s support. People and their relatives told us they felt safe and staff were competent and kind. Accidents and incidents were monitored, and notifiable incidents were reported to external agencies where required.

Right Culture

Effective governance and quality assurance systems were not in place to drive improvements in the service. People and relatives told us there was a lack of leadership. Complaints were dealt with in a timely manner, with actions arising to learn lessons from these. Staff told us they felt able to raise concerns and were supported in their roles.

Systems and processes were in place to protect people from the risk of avoidable harm. Staff were trained and knowledgeable about how to spot signs of suspected abuse and how to raise concerns. Safeguarding concerns were investigated and reported to external agencies where required. Staff received training in relation to infection, prevention and control and people told us staff followed guidance and wore personal protective equipment, to help prevent the spread of infection. People received their medicines as prescribed.

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 6 November 2018).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing, training and leadership. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the well led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Personal Assist on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation the provider implements staff training and reviews there records regarding supporting people with a learning disability.

Follow up

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

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults, younger disabled adults and children.

At the time of our inspection there were 14 people who used the service. However, not everyone using Personal Assist received a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection five people were receiving personal care.

The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service was managed by the 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.

People were safe. Staff understood their responsibilities in relation to protecting people from the risk of harm. Where risks to people had been identified, risk assessments were in place and action had been taken to manage the risks. Staff were aware of people's needs and followed guidance to keep them safe. People received their medicines as prescribed. Infection, prevention and control procedures were in place and staff followed these.

Staffing levels were maintained to ensure that people's care and support needs continued to be met safely and there were safe recruitment processes in place.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People’s needs and choices were assessed and mental capacity assessments were undertaken.

Staff displayed empathy and worked with people and their relatives to understand how best to support them. Everyone we spoke with, without exception, said they were very happy about the service being provided. Staff were kind, considerate, respected people and maintained their dignity.

People received individualised, personalised, person centred care that met their needs. People were supported to live fulfilled and meaningful lives.

People were listened to and any complaints received were dealt with following the providers complaints policy and procedure.

Staff told us they enjoyed their work and received regular supervision and training. Staff were complimentary about the management team and how they were supported to carry out their work. The management team were also clearly committed to providing a good service for people.

Staff and the registered manager shared the visions and values of the service and these were embedded within service delivery. A system was in place for checking the quality of the service using audits, satisfaction surveys and meetings. People made their views known through direct discussion with the registered manager and staff or through the complaint and quality monitoring systems. People's privacy and confidentiality were maintained as records were held securely.