7 March 2023
During a routine inspection
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:
People were supported with medicine administration. Risks to people had been assessed and mitigating strategies had been implemented. Staff understood safeguarding procedures and how to protect people from potential abuse and harm.
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 ensured they asked consent from people before supporting them. Staff understood people’s rights to refuse care. Staff supported people with dignity and respect.
People were involved in their care planning. Staff asked if people had a preferred gender of staff and assessments of people's needs, including those in relation to protected characteristics under the Equality Act were reflected in people's care plans.
Right Care:
Staff recruitment and staff training required improvement. We found the provider had not always followed safer recruitment procedures to review staff's past work history. Staff had not always had sufficient training to provide person centred, safe care to people.
Records were not always kept up to date. Daily notes were not always completed, and some information was missing or incorrect in people’s care plans. Therefore, there was not always evidence if staff supported people with their assessed needs.
People told us staff were kind and caring. We received positive feedback on how staff related to people.
People were supported to remain healthy and access healthcare professionals if needed. Staff supported people with meal preparation as required.
Right Culture:
Management oversight required improvement. Audits had not been completed to review and analyse information to ensure records were kept up to date and to identify where the service needed to improve.
People, relatives and staff had not consistently been asked to feedback on the service and there were no actions plans implemented to drive improvements.
People and relatives did not always have the information required to contact the service or understand the service’s procedures. However, people, relatives and staff spoke positively about the registered manager and provider.
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 12 January 2022, and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and in part due to concerns received about staffing and the quality of care provided. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified breaches in relation to staff recruitment, staff training and management oversight at this inspection.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.