Oak House

Updated 10 May 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 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience who made phone calls to people and families for 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.

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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 4 April 2023 and ended on 13 April 2023. We visited the location’s office on 5 April 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service, including information from a monitoring phone call we carried out with the service in 2022. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who worked 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and 3 care staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and 3 staff files. We looked at a sample of the service’s quality assurance systems including medication and care plan audits.

Following the visit to the service, we continued to seek further clarification from the registered manager. We had contact with 3 people using the service, 7 relatives and 1 professional for feedback about the service.

Updated 10 May 2023

About the service

Oak House is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 20 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

Feedback from families and relatives was positive. A relative told us, “The service is excellent, we are in fact really pleased with it. I can’t praise them enough.”

There was room to improve written guidance to staff. However, people received support from a small staff team who knew their needs well, and we found minimal impact from the lack of detail in care plans.

The registered manager and provider were passionate about serving the local community. They engaged well with people and their families. Senior staff were involved in providing care and checked the quality of care regularly, making improvements where necessary. Concerns were dealt with promptly.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff knew how to support people from the risk of abuse. The registered manager and staff supported people and families to manage risk. People received their medicines as prescribed. Staff supported people to minimise the risk of infection.

The registered manager enabled staff to develop their skills and provide good quality care. Staff supported people to eat and drink in line with their preferences. Staff worked well with people, families and professionals to promote people’s health and wellbeing.

Care was respectful and unrushed and focused on supporting people to remain independent. Staff supported people to engage in their local community. Care was personalised around people’s needs and preferences. Staff reviewed and adapted support as people’s needs changed.

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.

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:

Staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do.

Right Care:

People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently.

Right Culture:

People and those important to them, were involved in planning their care.

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 05 July 2021 and this is the first inspection. The service had been dormant for approximately a year after being registered.

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.