Archived: Cera Southend on Sea

Updated 14 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 completed by 1 inspector 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. 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 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 provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 19 December 2022 and ended on 17 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on 19 December 2022.

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 it was registered with the Care Quality Commission. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who use the service about their experience of the care and support provided. Where people were unable to talk with us, we observed people’s interactions with staff. We spoke with the regional manager, registered manager, care coordinator and field care supervisor and one member of care staff. We reviewed 4 people’s care files and 4 staff personnel files. We looked at the provider’s arrangements for managing risk and medicines management, staff training, induction and supervision data. We also looked at the service’s quality assurance arrangements.

Following the inspection, the Expert by Experience spoke with 3 people’s relatives about their experience of the care provided. We visited 3 people in their own home and spoke with a further 2 members of staff.

Updated 14 February 2023

About the service

Cera Southend on Sea is a domiciliary care service providing the regulated activity of personal care. 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. At the time of our inspection there were 6 people using the service who were in receipt of the regulated activity personal care.

People’s experience of using this 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.

Right Support:

Staff enabled people to access health and social care support in the community.

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 communicated with people in ways that met their needs.

Staff supported people with their medicines.

Staff recruitment and induction training processes promoted safety.

Right Care:

Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care.

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 received care that supported their needs and were focused on their quality of life, and followed best practice.

Right Culture:

Governance processes were effective and helped to hold staff to account, keep people safe, protect people’s rights and provide good quality care and support.

The provider sought feedback from people and those important to them and used the information to progress the service.

The provider had a clear vision for the direction of the service which demonstrated ambition and a desire for people to achieve the best outcomes possible.

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 in September 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.