Social Care Academy Solihull

Updated 7 January 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 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of 1 inspector and 1 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 inspector visited the service and the Expert by Experience gathered feedback about the service from people and their relatives via the telephone.

Service and service type

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

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

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority who work with the service. 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 1 person who used the service and 6 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 6 members of staff including the registered manager, care co-ordinator, team leader and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records, including 4 people’s care records. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff support and a range of records relating to how the service operated and was managed.

Updated 7 January 2023

About the service

Social Care Academy is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to older people and to people with a range of needs including physical disabilities and sensory impairments. At the time of our inspection 9 people were receiving personal care. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 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 the 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.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right support

Risks associated with people's care and their home environments were assessed and well-managed. The model of care and settings maximised people's choice and independence. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff were recruited safely and there were sufficient staff to provide people's planned care and support.

Right care

People received personalised care and support from staff they knew and who understood their needs. Staff knew how to keep people safe and protect from harm and relatives had no concerns regarding their family members safety. Staff followed safe infection prevention practice in people's homes.

Right culture

Systems were in place to monitor and review the quality and safety of the service provided, for example, audits of care records. Staff felt valued and supported by a registered manager who promoted an open and inclusive culture. The management team and staff worked in partnership with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for people.

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 requires improvement (published 20 June 2022).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating to review the key questions safe and well led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Social Care Academy on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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