Archived: Thera North

Updated 18 February 2017

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 between 6 December 2016 and 23 January 2017 and included visits to the registered office on 21 December 2016 and 23 January 2017. We gave the provider advanced notice of our visits to the office because the location was a domiciliary care agency and we wanted to ensure there was someone available to assist us with the inspection. We gave 24 hours’ notice before we visited people in their own accommodation to obtain their consent for us to visit them and ensure they would be at home when we visited. The inspection was carried out by three inspectors.

Prior to our inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included a Provider Information Return (PIR) completed by the provider. 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 looked at previous inspection reports, information received and statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events and the provider is required to send us this by law. We contacted some health and social care professionals who have contact with the service and commissioners who fund the care for some people and asked them for their views.

During the inspection we spoke with two people who used the service and seven relatives. We also visited five people who were being supported in their own accommodation and observed how they interacted with the staff who were supporting them. We discussed the service with ten staff consisting of two community support leaders, one team coordinator, one senior support worker and six support workers. We also had discussions with two operations managers, the registered manager and their personal assistant as well as the safeguarding and compliance manager for Thera Trust.

We considered information contained in some of the records held at the service. This included the care records for four people, staff training records, three staff recruitment files and other records kept by the registered manager as part of their management and auditing of the service.

Updated 18 February 2017

This announced inspection was carried out between 6 December 2016 and 23 January 2017. Thera North is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care across the northern counties of Cumbria, Lancashire and County Durham to people with learning disabilities who are living independently. Some of these are shared tenancies with other people who also receive personal care and support from Thera North, and others are single tenancies. Prior to the inspection the provider informed us that they were providing services to 50 people receiving personal care. Staff work in small teams and provide personal care and support to people in a single or small number of properties in these geographical areas.

The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. 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.

People were supported by staff who understood the risks people could face and knew how to make people feel safe. People were encouraged to be independent and risks were mitigated in the least restrictive way possible.

People were supported by consistent staff who they knew. People who required support to take their medicines received assistance to do so when this was needed.

People were provided with the care and support they wanted by staff who were trained and supported to do so. People’s human right to make decisions for themselves was respected and they provided consent to their care when needed. Where people were unable to do so the provider followed the Mental Capacity Act 2005 legal framework to make the least restrictive decisions in people’s best interest.

People were supported by staff who understood their health conditions and ensured they had sufficient to eat and drink to maintain their wellbeing.

People were treated with dignity and respect and their privacy was protected. Where possible people were involved in making decisions about their care and support.

People were able to influence the way their care and support was delivered and they could rely on this being provided as they wished. People were informed on how to express any issues or concerns they had so these could be investigated and acted upon.

People were supported by a service which was person centred and put their interests first. However the systems in place to monitor the quality of the service were not being followed so that improvements could be made when needed.