Archived: Social Care Solutions - Cambridgeshire

Updated 6 May 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 announced inspection took place on 10, 11 and 15 March 2016. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the service provide a domiciliary care service for people and staff are often out during the day we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The inspection was carried out by three inspectors.

Before the inspection we looked at information that we held about the service including notifications. Notifications are information regarding important events that happen in the service that the provider is required to notify us about by law. Before the inspection, the provider had completed 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 with contracts monitoring officer from the local authority and two care managers from the local authority who had contact with the area manager, staff and people using the service.

During the inspection we spoke with eight people about the care and support they received. We also spoke with a relative of a person using the service, the area manager, three locality managers and five members of care staff. We visited 12 people receiving care and support from the service.

We looked at seven people’s care records, quality audits, staff meeting minutes, staff rotas and medication administration records. We checked records in relation to the management of the service such as quality assurance audits, policies and staff training and recruitment records.

Updated 6 May 2016

Social Care Solutions - Cambridgeshire is registered to provide personal care for people in supported living accommodation and in their own homes. There were ten people receiving the regulated activity of ‘personal care’ from the service when we visited. The service was providing 24 hour support to people living in properties in the towns of Chatteris, March, Whittlesey and Wisbech. This announced inspection was carried out on 10, 11 & 15 March 2016.

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At the time of our inspection a registered manager was not in place at the service. 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.

Staff were acting in accordance with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act. They demonstrated how they supported people to make decisions about their care and where they were unable to do so decisions were being taken in their best interests.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to assist people with their care and support needs. However the amount of agency staff being used in some locations had caused some concerns regarding inconsistencies in care and approach. Care and support plans were in place to provide staff with guidance to meet people’s individual care needs but risk assessments did not provide sufficient detail on how risks were to be managed and minimised. This meant that people were at a risk of not being protected from inappropriate or unsafe care.

Staff assisted people in a kind, caring and sensitive way and were trained to provide care which met people’s individual needs and wishes. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. They were supported to maintain and develop their skills and knowledge through supervision, and ongoing training.

People and their relatives felt able to raise suggestions or concerns they might have with the care and support being provided by the service. People felt listened to and reported that communication with members of staff was very good.

There were arrangements in place to monitor the day to day management of the service. People who used the service and their relatives were encouraged to share their views about the quality of the care and support provided. However, the provider did not have an effective quality assurance system in place to monitor the quality of the services provided for people.

We found one 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 the report.