Heath Care Services

Heath Care Services is a supported living service. The service supports people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and autistic people. The service supports up to 31 people living in 9 different supported living premises.

The support people receive can include personal care. 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, 10 people received support with personal care.

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.

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

We found improvements had been made in the service following our last inspection.

Right support:

Systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. Risks related to people’s care and environment were assessed so staff could support them safely. People’s medicines were managed safely. Processes to assess people’s needs to determine if the service could support them were in place. The provider recruited staff safely and checked they were suitable to work with people. Systems were in place to prevent and control infections. Lessons were learned following accidents and incidents in the service.

Right care:

People received care and support that was person centred. Staff were trained to carry out their roles and received support with their development. People were supported to attended healthcare appointments to help maintain their health. They were supported with their food and drink preferences to keep a balanced diet. 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 culture:

People’s dignity, privacy and human rights were respected. There was an equality and diversity policy in place. People’s needs in relation to their religion, culture and sexuality were respected. People had control of how their care and support was arranged. People were supported to integrate into the local community and be as independent as possible. They were supported to achieve positive outcomes. The attitudes of staff and managers enabled people to be as independent as possible. People pursued their interests and were supported to avoid social isolation. For example, we saw people go out to a day centre or enjoy the sunny weather outside. Systems were in place to manage complaints. People’s communication needs were met. Feedback was sought from people and relatives to help make continuous improvements to the service.

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 Requires Improvement, (published 6 June 2022) and there were breaches of regulations. We issued requirement notices to the provider for breaches of regulation 9 (Person-centred care) and regulation 17 (Good governance).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Heath Care Services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Follow up

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

About the service

Heath Care Services is a supported living service providing personal care. The service has seven different supported living premises providing support to 28 people in total, but only 9 received support with personal care. Four of the locations supported people with personal care. 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. The service supported people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and people living with autism.

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

Pre-care assessments and care plans were not comprehensive, they did not fully cover people’s needs in relation to equality and diversity. Quality assurance systems were not always effective.

People were not always treated in a way that was dignified or respected their privacy, and we have made a recommendation about this.

People were protected from the risk of abuse. Risk assessments were in place to help keep people safe. There were enough staff working at the service and robust staff recruitment practices were in place. Medicines were managed safely. There were effective measures in place to reduce the risk of the spread of infection. Accidents and incidents were reviewed to reduce the likelihood of similar events occurring again.

Staff were provided with support and undertook training to help them develop in their role. People were able to make choices about what they ate and drank. People were supported to live healthy lifestyles and to have access to health care professionals.

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 told us they liked the staff and that staff treated them well. Programmes were in place to help support people to develop independent living skills. Staff were aware of how to support people with personal care in a way that respected them and promoted their independence.

People and relatives were involved in developing their care plans and choosing what they wanted support with. There was a complaints procedure in place and complaints were dealt with in line with this. Information was provided to people in a way that helped to make it accessible. People were supported to develop and maintain relationships with others and engage in a variety of community-based activities, in line with their wishes.

People and staff told us there was an open and positive culture at the service. People were supported to express their views. The provider was aware of their legal obligations, and worked with other agencies to develop best practice and share knowledge.

Right Care

Sometimes the service acted in a way that was not as caring as it should have been. Such as displaying confidential information about people in communal areas of their homes and staff talking about people in a patronising way. Planned care did not cover all people’s needs in regard to equality and diversity issues.

Right Support

People were able to choose where they lived, and the supported living services were ordinary homes in residential areas. People were able to choose and be involved in planning the care and support they reived.

Right culture

People were at the heart of what the service did and care was person centred. There was an open and inclusive culture at the service.

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

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

This service was registered with us on 22 July 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches of regulations in relation to the way people’s needs were assessed, and the lack of effective systems for monitoring and improving the service at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.