Background to this inspection
Updated
28 February 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector, a children's services inspector and an assistant inspector.
Service and service type:
Oxfordshire Children- Young People & Families provides a home care service to children under the age of 18 years old. Children had a range of needs including learning and physical disabilities and health conditions.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service three days’ notice of the inspection site visit because we needed to be sure staff would be available to assist with the inspection.
Inspection site visit activity started on 4 February 2019 and ended on 6 February 2019. We visited the office location on 4 February 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and other documents relating to the running of the service.
What we did:
Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law. We requested and reviewed a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. This is a form that
asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and
improvements they plan to make.
During the office site visit we looked at records, which included seven children/young people’s support plans and the medicines records for four children/young people. We checked recruitment for three staff and seven staff training and supervision records. We looked at a range of records about how the service was managed. We spoke with the registered manager, two patch managers and five support workers. We telephoned seven parents to obtain their views on the service and visited two families and met two children in their own homes.
After our site visit we received feedback, via email, from one parent and four health and social care professionals.
Following on from the visit the registered manager also sent us additional evidence.
Updated
28 February 2019
About the service:
Oxfordshire Children- Young People & Families provides a home care service to children under the age of 18 years old. The children and young people had a range of needs including learning and physical disabilities and health conditions. At the time of the inspection 36 children and young people were receiving personal care support from the service.
People’s experience of using this service:
The service met the characteristics of Good in four areas and Outstanding in Caring, making it overall a rating of Good; more information is in the full report.
Children and young people continued receiving a safe and exceptionally caring service from Oxfordshire Children- Young People & Families.
We received positive feedback from parents and professionals on how staff had developed caring relationships with children and young people. Parents said their child or young person looked forward to seeing staff, which we saw evidence of during the inspection. One parent told us, "They’re [staff] absolutely brilliant." Staff supported the same children and young people in order to provide regular consistent care and support. We heard of many examples of where staff went over and above what was expected of them to ensure children and young people were safe, comfortable and enjoyed the time they spent with staff.
The registered manager was excellent in managing the service and was proactive in recruiting staff of a high calibre who could support children and young people appropriately. Where there had been some challenges in offering the fully allocated amount of support to children and young people, parents were made aware of this issue and steps were being taken to recruit new staff.
The registered manager ensured lessons were learnt where appropriate to improve the service further. The provider had effective quality assurance systems in place which were used to drive improvement.
Children and young people's needs were assessed and their needs recorded in very detailed support plans. These guided staff on how best to support the child or young person. Children and young people continued to be supported by staff that had the right skills and knowledge to fulfil their roles effectively. Staff told us they were well supported by the management team and received training relevant to the children and young people they visited.
Children and young people knew how to complain and complaints were dealt with in line with the provider’s complaints policy.
Rating at last inspection:
At the last inspection the service was rated Good (report published 26 August 2016).
Why we inspected:
This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.
Follow up:
We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.