Archived: Unique Community Services Bristol

Unique Community Services is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes and flats. The service provides support to people with a variety of complex physical and mental health needs across a wide geographical area.

Not everyone who uses the service will receive personal care. Care Quality Commission (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, five people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were kept safe from avoidable harm. Staff received training and systems supported them to recognise and report abuse to ensure people were safe. Risk assessments were completed and kept up to date. Staff had a good awareness of the specific risks faced by people they supported.

People, their relatives and professionals were positive about staff. People told us they were treated with kindness, respect and compassion. Staff knew people well and respected their individual choices, preferences and routines.

There were enough skilled staff to meet people’s needs. Staff were well trained, and the provider placed an emphasis on training, supporting and valuing staff to ensure they provided a high level of support to the people they worked with. Staff were positive about the service and they felt respected and well supported by managers.

People were supported by staff who followed systems and processes to manage medicines safely. We were assured that people were protected by the prevention and control of infection as far as possible.

People received support in line with support plans which met their individual needs and preferences. People and their supporters were involved in assessments, developing and reviewing plans which reflected their needs, strengths and preferences.

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.

Governance processes were effective and helped to hold staff to account, keep people safe, protect people’s rights and provide good quality support. People and their relatives felt confident to feed back on their care and support. Lessons were learned when things went wrong, and actions taken when necessary.

There was a strong sense of culture and importance was placed on values in the organisation. Staff were motivated by and proud of the service. They worked with people, relatives and the wider team to provide a high quality service with people at its heart.

The provider worked with a range of professionals and partner agencies to ensure people received effective support. Professionals and other stakeholders all gave positive feedback about the service.

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 30 September 2021 and this was 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.