Personalized Care

Updated 25 April 2020

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 one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they 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

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 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’s relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the provider, registered manager, care manager, senior care workers and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and 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.

Updated 25 April 2020

About the service

Personalized Care is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder living in their own homes.

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. There were seven people receiving personal care at the time of our inspection.

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

Person centred care was embedded in practice. The aims and objectives of the service were shared by managers and staff. The culture was open and inclusive, and care and support was focused on people who used the service. This meant that outcomes for people were good. People lived fulfilled lives and had their independence and autonomy promoted.

Relatives and staff we spoke with all told us people received exceptionally responsive care.

The service was extremely well led. The provider and manager were involved in every aspect of care provision and were supportive and accessible to people, relatives and staff.

People, relatives and staff were fully engaged in service development and asked for their ideas and feedback and these were acted on. There were effective quality assurance systems designed to continually improve the service.

Care and support was planned and delivered around the person so their individual needs and preferences were met. People were active and could follow their interests and hobbies. People were encouraged to have aspirations and were supported to set new goals and encouraged to continually learn and develop new skills.

Staff had the training and skills required to meet people’s needs. Staff were employed for person specific roles and matched with people’s interests and personalities where possible. Managers and staff placed great importance on effective communication. They carried out comprehensive and detailed assessments of people’s needs until they understood people’s communication needs.

People were safe because staff knew people well and understood their behaviours as attempts to communicate unmet needs. Staff were trained to anticipate distressed or risky behaviour and knew how to prevent this through activity and distraction techniques. Risk was identified and managed. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Staff managed people’s medicines in a safe way and supported people to access the healthcare and support services they required.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Managers and staff were highly motivated and compassionate. They were proud to work at the service and proud of the difference they had made to people’s quality of life and of the achievements of the people they supported.

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

Rating at last inspection – Good (Published 3 March 2017 )

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.