Individual Care Services

Updated 29 January 2022

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 carried out by four inspectors. One inspector visited three supported living services. One inspector contacted staff who provided care. Two inspectors undertook a visit to the office.

Service and service type

Individual Care Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes and shared 24-hour supported living homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The registered manager 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

Our inspection was announced. We gave the provider 24 hours' notice of our visit because the service was inspected during the coronavirus pandemic and we wanted to be sure we were informed of the service's coronavirus risk assessment for visiting healthcare professionals before we entered the building. We also needed to be sure that the provider and registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 14 December 2021 and ended on 16 December 2021. We visited three 24-hour supported living services, with people’s consent, on 16 December 2021 and visited the office location on 14 December 2021.

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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eleven members of staff including care workers, the nominated individual, an operations manager and the registered manager. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with two healthcare professionals who regularly visit the service.

Updated 29 January 2022

About the service

Individual Care Service provides personal care to people in their own homes and 24-hour shared supported living services. Care and support are provided to people living with a learning disability and other support needs including autism and health conditions. At the time of our inspection visit, the service was providing personal care to 42 people.

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

At the last inspection governance systems and management oversight of the service was inadequate. At this inspection the provider had made significant progress in improving their systems and processes to maintain oversight of the service and was no longer in breach of regulation. However, the system to identify important appointments for people to attend was not as effective as it should be, this meant important health appointments had been missed.

At the last inspection people had not always received care that was safe. Risks were not always identified, and support plans did not contain enough information for staff. At this inspection improvement had been made. People had care plans and risk assessments that had been reviewed and now contained the information needed for staff to provide safe care. Systems for staff to record and report safeguarding concerns had been improved.

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 statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion.

People’s access to important information was being improved by the provider. Changes were being made to make information more accessible for people to understand and there was a fresh emphasis by the provider on ensuring staff had the training and resources to understand the needs of people with learning disabilities.

Their was an emphasis on promoting people’s independence and people told us that they felt well supported and cared for by staff.

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 inadequate (published 15 October 2021) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. 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.

This service has been in Special Measures since 15 October 2021. During this inspection the provider demonstrated that improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.