Wigan Community Services

Updated 25 December 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience, who conducted telephone calls with people using the service and their relatives. 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 is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats and specialist housing.

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 36 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to ensure the registered manager was available to support the inspection and to ensure we had prior information to promote safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The notice period also allowed the provider time to start asking people using the service and their relatives, if they would be prepared to speak to us about their experiences. Inspection activity started on 22 November and ended on 2 December, by which time we had sought the views of people, relatives and staff and reviewed all additional information sent following the visit. We conducted the office visit on 24 November 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included notifications sent to us by the home. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with registered manager and sought the views of nine staff members via a mixture of telephone interviews and emailed questionnaires. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment, training and support. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at audit and governance information, newsletters, surveys, medicine records, training and supervision information.

Updated 25 December 2021

About the service

Wigan Community Services, known by people using the service and the staff employed as My Care My Home, provide domiciliary care, support and companionship services to people via direct payments or through self-funding. 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 our inspection, the service supported 49 people with personal care.

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

People and relatives told us the service provided safe care which met their needs. Staff had received training in safeguarding and knew how to report any concerns. Care visits were completed timely, with staff remaining for the allocated length of time. People were informed if staff were running late, such as due to being stuck in traffic. People received their medicines safely from staff who had been trained and had had their competency assessed.

People were involved in the assessment process to ensure the service was suitable and could meet their needs. Staff received enough training and support to carry out their roles safely and effectively. 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.

People and relatives spoke positively of the care provided, which they said was delivered by staff who were kind, patient and caring. We were also told staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and offered them choice. People’s views were sought through care reviews and annual surveys, to ensure the service continued to meet their needs.

Care files contained detailed information about each person and how they wished to be supported. People and relatives were fully involved in discussions around care planning and told us the service was quick to respond to requests for changes to support packages. The complaints process was provided to people at the beginning of their care package. Each person or relative we spoke with knew how to raise concerns but had not needed to.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the management of the service and support provided. A range of systems and processes were used to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the service, with an improvement plan used to ensure any identified issues were addressed.

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 the service was good (published May 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.