7 March 2023
During a routine inspection
About the service
BeHappy@Home Southampton is a is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people who live in their own home. At the time of inspection, they were providing care to 37 people, which included older people, people with a mental health condition and people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
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
Right Support
We found not all staff had completed the appropriate training for their roles. We also found that people had not always received their medicines as required and this had not been followed up to check for harm. This placed people at risk of receiving inappropriate or unsafe care. There was not a robust effective system in place to ensure the provider employed people who were suitably qualified, competent and experienced. However, the provider was able to correct this during the inspection and obtained the information needed to comply with the regulations.
People had choice and control around their care arrangements. Care focussed on people's abilities and promoted their independence.
People were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them and care was arranged so people could access the services and activities which they wished. People's care plans identified how they would like to be supported and what they would like to achieve with the help of care and 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.
Right Care
We identified concerns in relation to staff’s recording of medication administration and training records. We found no evidence people had been harmed. However, there were failures to record, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service, and a failure to maintain accurate records.
Staff were respectful of people's dignity, privacy and treated them as individuals with their own beliefs, thoughts and aspirations.
People told us they were happy with their care. People or their relatives felt comfortable raising issues or concerns. There were systems and processes in place to safeguard people from abuse. However, although the provider had raised safeguarding’s with the local authority they had failed to notify CQC as required. The provider had an open and transparent approach where people, relatives and professionals were kept informed about key events related to care.
Right Culture
Although we found issues around the oversight of governance, medication and training. From the feedback we received from people and relatives, the registered manager, their staff, and the provider's management displayed caring and person-centred values. They modelled this behaviour to staff and set expectations that these values should be integral to staff's working practice.
People were supported and treated with dignity and respect. Staff used accessible ways to communicate with people which were personalised to meet their needs. Relatives said staff listened to what they had to say and worked with them to communicate appropriately with people and in a way people could understand.
The provider worked well with external stakeholders to meet people's changing needs and ensure people had smooth transitions when moving between different services.
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 04 October 2021 and this was the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection as the service had not previously been inspected.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.