We Care Together Southampton

Updated 17 February 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 was carried out by 2 inspectors. An Expert by Experience contacted people and relatives following the inspection to obtain feedback about the service. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

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 were 2 registered managers in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and office staff may assist with care calls. We needed to make sure someone would be there to support our inspection activity.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we already held about the provider. We used information gathered as part of a monitoring activity that took place on 12 April 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with both registered managers, 1 of whom is also the nominated individual, and other office-based staff. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with 2 support workers and 1 senior support worker who visited the office to meet us. We looked at 5 care records and a variety of records associated with running the service.

Following the inspection, an Expert by Experience contacted peoples and their relatives to obtain feedback about the service. They spoke with 9 relatives and 1 person using service.

Updated 17 February 2023

About the service

We Care Together Southampton is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to older and younger adults, people living with dementia or mental health conditions and people who have a physical disability. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the service.

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.

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

People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited and participated in appropriate training. Staff were aware of possible safeguarding risks and acted in the event they suspected abuse had occurred. Risks were assessed however we thought additional assessments and actions could improve safety when delivering care. Medicines were safely managed.

People were assessed and care plans devised to provide them with person-centred care support. People received appropriate assistance with meals and drinks and to access healthcare services. 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.

Staff were caring and respectful when speaking about people and feedback from people and relatives echoed this. Staff promoted people’s dignity and respect.

Support plans were person-centred and contained sufficient information to ensure people received their care in the manner they wanted. An electronic care system ensured updates in care panning were shared quickly among staff. Information was available in some different formats to aide understanding but this could be further developed.

The registered managers were accessible to their teams and encouraged staff to develop skills in order to progress within their work. The management team completed regular audits to ensure the quality of the service and identify areas for improvement. The provider forged positive working relationships with some health and social care professionals and had worked closely with community nursing teams to support the recovery pf pressure wounds.

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 under the previous provider was good, published on 11 October 2018.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the provider changing the legal entity of the service therefore becoming unrated.

Follow up

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