Extra Care

Updated 2 February 2024

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

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector and 2 Experts by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

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

This inspection was announced giving 24 hours notice so a representative from the provider would be available.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 8 people who used the service and 13 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, 2 support workers and received written responses to questionnaires we sent from 46 other staff members including supervisors and senior care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 8 care and medication records. We looked at other records relating to the management of the service including staff supervision, recruitment and systems for monitoring quality.

Following the inspection, we looked at a range of documents sent to us such as audits, care records and training information.

Updated 2 February 2024

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.

About the service

Extra Care supports people to live in their own homes. People using the service lived in flats across 7 schemes, across the County Durham area. The service provides personal care and support to people who may be living with dementia, of older age, a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, a physical disability, sensory impairment or mental health needs. At the time of the inspection, the service was providing care to 210 people.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

Right Support:

Risks to people's health, safety and well-being were effectively managed. Medicines were administered safely. The provider had effective infection prevention and control systems in place.

People were supported to access specialist health and social care support where appropriate. People told us they felt safe when receiving support from staff. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

Right Care:

People told us staff arrived on time and they received support from the same group of staff, which promoted good continuity of care. People's needs were assessed prior to the commencement of the service. The assessment included people's health, physical, emotional and communication needs. Care provided was personalised and supported people’s preferences and wishes. Care plans had been reviewed regularly to ensure they were accurate.

People were encouraged to be independent and to carry out tasks without support.

Right Culture:

The provider had recruitment processes in place to ensure suitable staff were employed. New staff we spoke with said this process was clear, inclusive and supportive.

People and staff spoke positively about the management of the service and their openness to feedback. The management team was approachable, maintained regular communication, and listened to the views of others.

Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were in place. The registered manager was a positive influence, open and aware of their legal responsibilities.

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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: The last rating for this service was good (published 26 September 2018).

Why we inspected

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

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Extra Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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