River Stone (UK) Limited

Updated 11 August 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 was undertaken by 1inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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. The registered manager was also the provider.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 14 June 2023 and ended on 20 June 2023. We visited the location’s office on 20 June 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 11 November 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 relative of a person who used the service. We also received written feedback from 1 service user and another relative. We spoke with 4 staff, including the provider, senior care staff and carers. We looked at care records for 2 people and medicines records. We looked at recruitment records for 2 staff members and reviewed records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 11 August 2023

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.

About the service

River Stone (UK) Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 3 people at the time of the inspection.

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

Right 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. Staff understood people had the right to make decisions for themselves and supported people to do so.

People were supported to be independent, and staff focused on what people could do for themselves. People were supported to manage their health and access specialist healthcare services where appropriate. Staff worked in partnership with health and social care agencies to promote people’s health and wellbeing. Where people needed support with meals -or drinks staff provided this support.

The support people needed with their medicines was assessed. People received their medicines as prescribed. Staff were recruited safely and received regular supervision.

Right Care:

People’s support plans reflected their needs and promoted their wellbeing and independence. Staff were aware of the risks to people’s health and knew how to support them to reduce these risks.

There were enough staff to support people. Staff were recruited safely. People were supported by consistent staff teams who had the skills and knowledge they needed to undertake their role. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. People were protected from the risks of infection.

People received kind and compassionate care which was person centred. Staff knew people well and understood their needs, wants and preferences. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. People’s communication needs were assessed to ensure they were communicated with in ways that were appropriate for them.

Right Culture:

Quality checks on the service were not recorded. The provider had not always kept up to date with areas of best practice. These were areas for improvement.

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. There was a positive culture at the service, staff were well motivated and spoke positively about the people they supported.

People, and those important to them, including advocates, were involved in planning their care. People and their relatives were involved in regular reviews of their care to ensure staff were aware of changing needs. The provider met with people on a regular basis to seek their views.

Where incidents had occurred, action had been taken to reduce the risk of re-occurrence. The provider was aware of their duties under the law.

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 19 April 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.

Follow up

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