United Response - Wiltshire DCA

Updated 27 June 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

One inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out this 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, 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 were 2 registered managers in post. Each registered manager had responsibility for specific areas of the service but shared overall responsibility for the oversight of the regulated activity.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period of notice of the inspection, so the provider could make arrangements with people for an inspector to visit them in their home.

Inspection activity started on 11 May 2023 and ended on 26 May 2023. We visited the location’s office on 11 May 2023 and visited people using the service on 24 and 25 May 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met with 6 people who used the service and 8 friends and relatives about their experience of the care provided.

We spoke with 10 members of staff including the registered managers and 8 support workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 6 people’s care records and 5 medicine records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 27 June 2023

About the service

United Response – Wiltshire DCA is a supported living service, providing personal care to 12 people at the time of the inspection. The service provides support to people with learning disabilities and autistic people, who live in shared homes or on their own. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The 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.

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.

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

Right Support

Risk assessments were completed to support people to be as independent as possible. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of risk management plans and the actions they needed to take to support people to stay safe.

People were supported to safely take any medicines they were prescribed. The support people needed was regularly reviewed to ensure people were as independent as possible. Staff kept accurate records of the support they provided people to take their medicines.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The provider had taken action to address staff shortages through use of temporary agency staff where needed. Temporary staff had been working at the service on a long term basis to provide consistent support for people.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care

People and their relatives told us they felt safe and received good care. We saw people interacting with staff in a confident and comfortable way. People appeared at ease in the presence of staff.

We observed staff working in ways that were respectful of people and promoted their independence. Staff responded to people’s requests and provided appropriate support.

People were supported to maintain contact with their family and friends.

Right culture

The registered managers had promoted a person-centred approach in the service. This was evidenced through the content of staff meetings, support sessions for staff and the training staff received. Staff said the registered managers were focused on ensuring people received a good service.

The provider had systems to assess and monitor the quality of the service being provided. Effective action had been taken to make improvements where needed.

Staff told us they felt listened to and valued by the registered manager.

People were supported to be active members of their community and participate in local activities.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 17 November 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained good, based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for United Response – Wiltshire DCA on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.