Background to this inspection
Updated
31 December 2022
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
Two inspectors and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. 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 provides care and support to people living in ‘supported living’ settings, their own homes and flats, so that they can live as independently as possible. In ‘supported living’ settings, people’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
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 five registered managers in post and one manager with a registration in process.
Notice of inspection
We gave a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.
Inspection activity started on 14 November 2022 and ended on 5 December 2022. We visited the location’s service on 21 November 2022 and 22 November 2022.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we held about the service and contacted the local authority. 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 visited 11 people and spoke with 10 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback from 19 members of staff and spoke with the registered managers and operations director. We received written feedback from two professionals.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care and support records and three people’s medicine administration records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and training. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, audits, accident and incident records, safeguarding records and reports.
Updated
31 December 2022
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.
About the service
Dimensions Dorset East Domiciliary Care Office provides care and support to people with a learning disability and autistic people. It is registered to provide personal care. At the time of the inspection the service was delivering personal care to 26 people. Most people lived in their own home, some people shared a house with one other person and one person lived with family .
CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right 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.
People received care and support in an environment with specialist equipment to meet their physical needs. People and their relatives were able to personalise their own space. Personalised support plans and risk assessments promoted people’s choices regarding the support they required to maintain their environment. People were supported by appropriate numbers of staff who provided kind, caring, person-centred care and support. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs.
Right Care:
The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice, control, independence and inclusion .
Support plans and risk assessments were detailed and person-centred ensuring people were supported to live full, active lives and encouraged to be as independent as possible. Support plans outlined individual ways of communicating: using body language, sounds, Makaton (a form of sign language), pictures and symbols so people could interact with staff because staff had clear guidance on how best to communicate with people. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to raise concerns.
Right Culture:
There was a person-centred and positive culture within the staff team. Staff had confidence in the leadership of the service and felt the service was well led. The registered managers had developed positive working relationships with people and other organisations to ensure positive outcomes were achieved. One staff member commented, “The provider offers a personalised service for care tailored to the individual. They also offer great support towards staff.”
Staff demonstrated good understanding around providing people with person-centred care and spoke knowledgably about how people preferred their care and support to be given.
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 28 July 2021 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.