66 Long Lane

66 Long Lane is a domiciliary care agency providing care to people living in their own homes, in a supported living setting so they can live as independently as possible. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 5 people with personal care. Some of the people supported had a learning disability or autism.

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.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

We have made a recommendation regarding the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were mostly supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible however we could not always be sure from the records if it was in their best interests. The policies and systems in the service required improving to support this practice.

Some information was missing from staff files. However this was addressed during our inspection. People’s risk assessments were completed in accordance with their assessed needs. Staff were happy with their rostered hours, and people told us staff mostly came on time. If staff were late, they would receive communication from the office. People received their required medications on time by staff who were trained to do this.

Information in care plans was person centred. Relatives we spoke with said they knew how to raise complaints, however they had not needed to. People’s equality and diversity needs were respected by staff, and relatives told us staff were kind and caring in their approach.

Quality assurance procedures were in place and had highlighted where improvement was needed. Staff told us they felt they were able to speak up to the registered manager and the provider whenever they needed to. Team meetings took place, and people were routinely asked for written and verbal feedback about their experience of 66 Long Lane.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 21 December 2018 and this is their first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

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