Expeditions Living

Updated 23 October 2020

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 two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service provides a domiciliary care and supported living service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

There was a registered manager working at the service. A registered manager along with the provider is 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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 24 September 2020 and ended on 28 September 2020. We visited the office location on 24 September 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included notifications which the provider is required to submit. We sought feedback professionals who work with the service. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including the registered manager and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found .

Updated 23 October 2020

About the service

Expeditions Living is a domiciliary care and supported living service providing personal care for younger adults with physical disability, learning disability and/or mental health needs. The service supported five people at the time of the inspection.

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

People and their relatives were positive about the support they received from staff. They told us they felt safe when staff visited and were confident that any concerns would be dealt with promptly. Appropriate numbers of staff were employed to deliver the care and support people required. Where people were supported with medicines, they received support from staff who had received training around this and medicines were managed safely.

Infection prevention measures had been established within the service. Staff had a good understanding of these procedures and people confirmed staff were wearing protective equipment when visiting people in their homes.

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.

The registered manager acted on concerns to ensure people received care which was safe and responsive to their needs. Staff were trained in safeguarding people and protecting them from harm. Any concerns or accidents were reported and acted on.

The registered manager had developed quality assurance systems to monitor the overall quality of the service provided to people. These systems had led to improvements in the quality of the service being provided to people.

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 June 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulation.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 27 March 2019. 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, Good Governance.

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.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

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.