Coquet Trust

Updated 12 January 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in ‘supported living’ settings, so 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.

This service is also a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had two managers 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 a short period notice of the inspection. This was because we needed consent from people to allow us to contact them and we requested some information and documentation be shared with us.

Inspection activity started on 15 December 2020 and ended on 22 December 2020. We visited the office location on 16 December 2020.

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. 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.

During the inspection

We contacted four people who used the service and five relatives about their experience of the support provided. We spoke with the nominated individual and two registered managers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke with five staff members and had email communication with a further 11 staff, including service managers, team co-ordinators and support staff.

We reviewed a range of records, including six peoples care records and four people’s medicine records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. We viewed a range of records relating to the management of the service, including training information, staff support, audits and quality assurance, policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to review information we had received from the provider.

Updated 12 January 2021

About the service

Coquet Trust is a supported living service and a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support or enablement to autistic people and people with a learning disability and/or mental health needs. At the time of the inspection 104 people were receiving support.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.

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

People told us they felt safe and trusted the staff who supported them. Staff had attended safeguarding training and understood how to report concerns. Risks had been assessed and positive risk taking was supported.

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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, 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 providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. The model of care maximised people’s choice, control and independence. Support was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and support staff ensured people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

People were supported to live healthy lives and access medical and health care services when needed. Staff were well supported and had attended training to enable them to meet people’s needs.

There were two registered managers in post who worked closely with the nominated individual to develop and improve the service following a robust quality assurance procedure.

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

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 9 January 2020) and there were two breaches of regulation, which related to staff support and good governance. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.