Background to this inspection
Updated
21 December 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.
Inspection team
The inspection team consisted of two inspectors, a regulatory co-ordinator who made telephone calls to care staff, and an 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. The Expert by Experience did not visit the service but made telephone calls to people who used the service or their relatives.
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 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
The inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 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.
What we did before the inspection
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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local safeguarding team, local authority commissioners of the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.
We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We reviewed a range of records. This included care and medication records for 5 people. We looked at a variety of records relating to staff training and recruitment, and the management of the service. We spoke with 10 members of staff including the registered manager, the deputy manager, the CEO and 7 support workers. We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 5 relatives.
Updated
21 December 2023
About the service
Mencap in Kirklees is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in a number of supported living facilities. At the time of our inspection there were 22 people using the service.
People’s experience of the service and what we found:
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.
Right Support
Staff supported people to have choice, control in their care and support. 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 was flexible to people’s needs and we saw examples of how the provider was responsive to their changing needs.
Right Care
Staff understood people's needs and provided appropriate care. One person’s relative told us, “Our experience has been very positive. The support (person) gets is individualised to (them). It is a good staff group that understand the task and involve us in solutions.” Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe. People's care, treatment and support plans reflected their needs, and this promoted their wellbeing.
Right Culture
People received good quality care and support because the provider and staff focused on meeting their needs and wishes to enhance their quality of life. People and, where appropriate, their relatives were involved in planning their care. People, relatives and staff felt well supported by the management team and able to raise concerns with them. They felt concerns were acted on and lessons learnt when things went wrong. There were systems to monitor and audit the service to help improve quality and people's experiences.
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 this service was Good (published 4 April 2018).
Why we inspected
We inspected due to the length of time since the last inspection.
We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Mencap in Kirklees (DCA) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.