Health Personnel

Updated 17 August 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This service was inspected by 2 inspectors on the first day. One inspector returned to the service on the second day to complete the inspection.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 4 ‘supported living’ settings and in one flat, so that 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must tell us about, such as any safeguarding alerts that had been raised. 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 sought feedback from commissioners and the local authority safeguarding team. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the services about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 5 members of care staff, the care manager, the team manager, and the registered manager. We visited 2 supported living houses and one flat and looked at medicines management, care records, and carried out observations of care provided in the communal areas. We visited the office and reviewed a range of records. These included 5 people’s care records, 5 staff files in relation to recruitment and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

Updated 17 August 2023

About the service

Health personnel is a supported living service providing personal care and support to people living in 4 separate supported living houses and a flat with sleep in arrangements. At the time of the inspection, 14 people were using the service. CQC does not regulate premises for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s care and support.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and 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 supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

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. The registered manager and staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Staff told us they asked for people's consent before offering support. Staff involved people in making decisions about their daily care and support requirements and promoted their independence. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink and had access to healthcare professionals when required to maintain good health. Risks to people were assessed, identified, and safely managed. Medicines were managed safely. There were enough staff deployed to meet people's needs. The provider followed safe recruitment practices. People were protected from risk of infection.

Right Care:

People's care plans were reflective of their individual care needs and preferences, and they were reviewed on a regular basis. A variety of activities were on offer and available for people to take part in. People's cultural needs and religious beliefs were recorded, and they were supported to meet their individual needs. Staff offered choices tailored to individual people using a communication method appropriate to that person. Staff were caring, considerate and respected people’s privacy and dignity.

Right Culture:

The provider had effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Regular feedback was sought from people about the service. The registered manager responded to complaints appropriately. The service had a system in place to record accidents and incidents and acted on them in a timely manner. Staff were complimentary about the management team. The provider worked in partnership with health and social care professionals to ensure people's needs were planned and met.

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 (published 24 April 2020). At that inspection we found breaches of regulations in relation to need for consent, safe care, and treatment, receiving and acting on complaints, staffing, 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 11, 12, 16, 17, and 18.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.