Archived: Jiva Homecare, Highlands House

Updated 10 September 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 30 June and 7 July 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the home. We considered information we held about the service this included safeguarding alerts that had been made and notifications which had been submitted. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

On this occasion we did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). 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. We also spoke to a commissioner of care from the local authority before the inspection.

During the inspection we were able to talk with two people who used the service. We also spoke with three staff members, this included the registered manager. During the inspection we spoke with a visiting social care professional. Following the inspection we spoke with two further social/heath care professionals. We also contacted a family member for their view on the service.

We observed care and support in communal areas and spent time in the DCA office and listened to a staff handover.

We reviewed a variety of documents which included people’s care plans, three staff files, training information, medicines records, audits and some policies and procedures in relation to the running of the service.

We ‘pathway tracked’ two people who used the service. This is when we looked at people’s care documentation in depth, obtained their relatives views on how they described the care at the service and made observations of the support they were given. It is an important part of our inspection, as it allowed us to capture information about people receiving care.

Updated 10 September 2016

Jiva Homecare, Highlands House provides care and support through a Domiciliary Care Agency (DCA) to adults with a learning disability and people with a mental health condition who live in leased accommodation with tenancy agreements. These adults live in supported living accommodation and have tailored support packages with an aim to promote more independent living within the community. The supported living accommodation was within a house (Highlands House) with shared community facilities. The DCA office was also located within this house.

At the time of this inspection three people were receiving care and support from the DCA.

This inspection took place on 30 June and 7 July 2016 and was announced with 48 hour notice given. This was to ensure people and staff were available to provide feedback for the inspection process.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

All feedback from people regarding the service and the staff was very positive. They told us they received the care and support they needed, felt safe and the staff were caring and were well trained to do their work. People said they were listened to, their views were respected and acted on. Staff who knew people well provided them with the individual and personalised support they required.

Despite this positive feedback we found some areas for improvement.

The provider had not taken all necessary steps to assure themselves staff employed were suitable to work at Jiva Homecare, Highlands House. In addition some records did not support the staff to provide the appropriate care and support to people. The tenancy agreements were not clear and did not demonstrate that any care and support needs were provided separately from the accommodation, as required for supported living. These areas were identified to the registered manager as areas for improvement.

People's individual care and support needs were assessed before they were provided with a service. Care and support provided was personalised and based on the identified needs of each individual. People were supported to develop their life skills and increase their independence.

People’s care and support plans and risk assessments were detailed and reviewed regularly. People told us they had felt involved and listened to.

People were supported to use health care professionals routinely and as required as a result of changes in health. Staff were aware of the processes they needed to follow to raise concerns about people’s health. All appointments with, or visits by, health care professionals were recorded in individual care plans. There were procedures in place to ensure the safe administration of medicines. People were supported to take their medicines and increase their independence within a risk management framework.

There were sufficient numbers of suitable staff to keep people safe and meet their care and support needs. The number of staff working enabled people to be supported to work and social activities and to develop their life skills to become more independent. People felt well supported, and were encouraged to be as independent as possible. We observed friendly and genuine relationships had developed between people and staff. People spoke positively about the registered manager and said that they could approach them about any issue they wanted to.

Staff told us they were supported to develop their skills and knowledge by receiving training which helped them to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively. Training records were kept up-to-date, plans were in place to promote good practice and develop the knowledge and skills of staff. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding procedures.

All staff had undertaken training on the Mental Capacity Act and had an understanding of consent and people’s individual rights. Staff had a good knowledge and understanding of what constituted abuse and how to respond to any suspicion of abuse.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service which included satisfaction surveys and meetings with the staff and people who used the service.

We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.