Mary Rush Care

Updated 21 February 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and 1 Expert by Experience. 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 provides care and support to people living in 3 ‘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

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 in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 10 January 2023 and ended on 17 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on 10 and 11 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registering CQC. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service, 5 relatives and 2 representatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 11 staff members including the provider, the registered manager, the deputy manager, 1 team leader, 6 support workers and the administrator.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records and medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, training data and quality assurance records were reviewed. We sought feedback from health care professionals working with the service.

Updated 21 February 2023

About the service

Mary Rush Care provides personal care to people who live in supported living households. At the time of the inspection 7 people were supported with their personal care needs.

Not everyone who used the service received support with their 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.

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.

Based on our review of safe and well-led, this service was able to demonstrate how they were currently meeting the underpinning principles of 'Right support, right care, right culture'.

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

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. People’s relatives and representatives told us people felt safe being support by Mary Rush Care.

Staff understood people's needs and how to assist them to protect them from avoidable harm. Care documentation and risk assessments were in place to provide staff with guidance on how to meet people's needs and manage identified risks.

The provider was reviewing their recruitment policy to ensure a consistent approach when staff had worked both abroad and in the UK. Staff received induction, training and supervision to support them in their roles.

There was a quality assurance system in place to ensure people received the best possible service.

People were supported to receive their medicines safely and as prescribed.

The service had infection control processes and systems in place to reduce the risk of people contracting COVID-19. The homes we visited were clean and decorated in a homely style.

Right Support: Model of Care and setting that maximises people’s choice, control and independence

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: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

The staff spoke positively about the leadership provided by the registered manager.

The provider and registered manager continued to improve the culture and quality of the service. The provider commissioned the support of an external consultant to support them and the registered manager to improve the service’s operational and quality monitoring systems and processes.

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 good (published 23 March 2020).

Why we inspected

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

We received concerns in relations to people’s support and the management of the service. 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.

The overall rating for the service has remained the same based on the findings of this inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

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