Creative Support - Whinn Dale Extra Care Service

Updated 27 September 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people and staff.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

Registered manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

The inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 18 August 2022 and ended on 31 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, six members of staff and six people’s relatives or friends

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as phone and video calls to enable us to engage with people and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

Updated 27 September 2022

About the service

Creative Support – Whinn Dale is a service providing support for people in their own homes. service was supporting around 30 people at the time of the inspection.

People using the service lived in a large community of individual flats.

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

People’s relatives spoke positively about their experience of receiving care from this provider. One said: “[My relative] is in very safe hands there, the staff know [my relative’s] every need.” Another said: “There’s nothing to worry about here, [my relative] is in the best place. When we saw it we said we’d love to move in!”

The registered manager carried out regular audits of the service, and these identified where there were any shortfalls so that there was continuous improvement. Most of the staff we spoke with told us the management team were accessible and supportive, although this was not borne out by all staff.

Where incidents had occurred, the provider had made the legally required notifications to CQC.

Medicines were managed safely, with regular reviews of people’s medication taking place, as well as management audits.

The provider took steps to involve people in their care, and we saw evidence of this within people’s care records.

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. Care took place in accordance with people’s consent, and where people lacked the capacity to consent to their care, appropriate alternative arrangements had been implemented.

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 in April 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection in line with CQC’s inspection programme.

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.