We carried out a review of the data available to us about Realise South West on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Realise South West, you can give feedback on this service.
About the service
Realise South West is a domiciliary care service which provides support to people in their own homes. The service operates within Somerset, Devon and Dorset.
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 was providing personal care to 43 people with learning disabilities, autism and assessed mental health needs.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.
Right Support
Consent to care was sought in line with legislation. People were supported to have choice and control of their lives. People were involved in decisions about their care and support and their communication needs were met.
Care was person centred and promoted choice and independence. People were supported to achieve positive outcomes.
People were supported by staff who received an induction and ongoing training. People were supported with their healthcare needs. People were happy with the support they received. People’s care plans were detailed, and person centred.
Right Care
People felt safe. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated. Systems, processes and practices safeguarded people from abuse and avoidable harm.
People were protected by the prevention and control of infection measures in place. Lessons were learned and improvements were made, when things went wrong. Staff were recruited in a safe way.
People were treated with kindness and respect. People's privacy and dignity was respected. Staff were kind and caring.
Right culture
We received mixed feedback from relatives and staff regarding the leadership of the service and communication. The registered manager and provider had taken action to address this.
The registered manager listened to concerns and promoted a positive culture that was person-centred, open and inclusive. There was honesty and openness when things went wrong. Concerns and complaints were listened and responded to.
Staff support, teamwork and staff morale was generally good. Staff were Staff were positive about their work and clear about the aims of the service. There were effective quality monitoring systems in place.
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 changed it's location address with us on 17 July 2019 and this is the first comprehensive inspection since the change.
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 until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
Realise South West is a domiciliary care service which provides support to people in various locations across the South West of England. At the time of our inspection, the service was providing personal care to 45 people with learning disabilities, autism and assessed mental health needs, all people using the service were receiving personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were protected from the risk of harm and abuse. Staff spoke confidently about actions they would take if abuse was witnessed or suspected. The provider identified and assessed risks to people and acted to mitigate these risks. Medicines were managed safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed. The provider ensured there were sufficient numbers of staff to meet the needs of people and was working to reduce their reliance on agency staff.
The provider operated a programme of checks and audits to monitor the performance of the service and submitted notifications to the commission as required. Staff were clear about their roles and spoke positively about colleagues and the management team. The provider worked with professionals and was involved with different initiatives aimed at improving care provision, both in the service and more broadly. Staff were proud of how they had supported people to reach their goals. Relatives said they had not been asked for feedback about the service and the provider was working to improve how feedback was sought. Relatives said they found communicating with the service was not always effective.
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.
The provider was able to demonstrate that they were meeting the requirements and principles of Right support, right care, right culture. Person-centred care and risk plans were in place, staff spoke about and treated people as individuals. The provider recognised the importance of matching staff with people and that continuity of staff supported people to achieve good outcomes. Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the provider had involved people with staff recruitment and aimed to continue this practice as soon as COVID-19 restrictions allowed. The provider was working with external professionals and organisations to improve care provision for people, both in the context of the service and more broadly.
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 17 July 2019 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 10 October 2017.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the improper use of restraint, medicines management and how the service was overseeing and supporting people with their finances. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns. We found the provider had made an improvement to their process of managing peoples' finances. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection at the provider’s old address, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Realise South West 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.