Efficiency-For Care

Updated 14 December 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 team consisted of 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. This service also provides care and support to people living in ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. 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

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 10 October 2023 and ended on 31 October 2023. We visited the location’s office on 10 and 25 October 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they registered in September 2021. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work 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 of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and 2 staff: support worker and key worker. We visited a supported living service and spoke with a person using the service, we also spoke with another person’s relative, and 2 social care professionals to gain their views of the service. We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people's care records, medicines records, risk assessments and safeguarding investigation reports. We also reviewed 3 staff recruitment records, staff rosters, staff training records and records relating to the quality assurance of the service, including internal audits, policies, and minutes of meetings.

Updated 14 December 2023

About the service

Efficiency for Care is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to people living in their own homes. This includes supported living schemes. They can provide a service to people with learning disabilities, autistic people, people with a physical or sensory need and people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection 2 people, who lived in supported living schemes, were 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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of 'Right support, right care, right culture.'

Right Support:

Staff were recruited for their personal values and skills and ‘matched’ to the people they would be supporting.

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 were encouraged to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing and supported to have access to specialist health and social care support in the community. Staff had built up good relations with health and care professionals, to ensure good outcomes for people.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care by staff who knew them well. Staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs.

Staff promoted people's equality and diversity they had a good understanding of people's individual communication needs, to ensure their voice was heard. People received kind and compassionate care from motivated staff who protected and respected people's privacy and dignity.

People's support plans provided staff detailed guidance on the level of support they wanted, which was kept under review and updated to meet the person's changing needs and aspirations. Staff received an induction and on-going training, which supported them to get to know the people they were supporting and meet their changing needs.

Right Culture:

People's quality of life was enhanced by the service's culture of improvement and inclusivity. The management had a strong visible presence within the service and placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.

Staff told us they enjoyed their work and felt supported by the management who they described as approachable. We observed people at ease with staff, with staff demonstrating the provider's values, of supporting people to be as independent as possible and have a good quality life.

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 3 September 2021, and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service at a previous premises was good, published on 11 June 2018 [since that inspection the provider has changed premises twice].

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.