Unit 6 The Post House

Updated 22 December 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.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

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

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

We gave a short notice period of the inspection because we needed to be sure the registered manager was available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 13 December 2022 and ended on 15 December 2022. We visited the location’s office on 13 December 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since its registration, including notifications of significant events. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager about how the service was run. We spoke with the person who used the service and one of the person’s friends to hear their views about the care the service provided. We received feedback from a professional who had worked with the agency.

We reviewed care plans and risk assessments for 2 people, one of whom had used the service in the past and one of whom was currently using the service. We checked medicines records for one people, recruitment records for a member of staff, training records, policies, quality audits, meeting minutes, satisfaction surveys, and the provider’s business continuity plan.

Updated 22 December 2022

About the service

Unit 6 The Post House provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. The service is registered to provide support to children and adults, including people with learning disabilities and/or autism, people with sensory impairment and people living with dementia. The service had provided care to 5 people since its registration but was supporting one person at the time of our inspection.

The provider had employed staff in the past but, as the service supported only one person at the time of our inspection, the registered manager was the only member of staff providing care.

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

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.

Right support

People felt safe when staff provided their care. Risk assessments were used effectively to identify and manage any risks involved in people’s care. Medicines were managed safely. Staff protected people from the risk of infection by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) when they carried out their visits.

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 service focused on people’s strengths and promoted their independence.

Right care

People’s needs were assessed before they began to use the service and kept under review. People were involved in developing their support plans and received care that met their individual needs and was focused on their quality of life.

People received kind and compassionate care from staff with whom they had established positive relationships. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff were appropriately trained to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.

The registered manager understood their responsibilities in protecting people from abuse and knew how to report any concerns they had. The provider’s recruitment procedures helped ensure only suitable staff were employed.

Right culture

The registered manager was appropriately qualified for their role and had developed effective systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service. People who used the service, their relatives and staff were able to contribute their views and the registered manager acted on their feedback. The registered manager worked effectively with other professionals to ensure people received the care they needed.

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 on 16 March 2020 and this is the first inspection.

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, which will help inform when we next inspect.