Updated 9 May 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and an expert 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:
Dimensions Yorkshire and Humberside Domiciliary Care Office is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing. It provides a service to adults with complex needs. This service also provides care and support to people living in a number of ‘supported living’ settings 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.
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:
The registered manager was given short notice of our inspection. We did this because the registered manager is sometimes out of the office and we need to be sure they were available. We also wanted to visit people’s homes in their supported living environment and wanted to gain their consent to do this.
Inspection site visit activity started on 15 April 2019 and ended on 16 April 2019. We visited the office location on 15 April 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We visited two supported living locations on 16 April 2019 and made telephone calls to people who use the service and their relatives.
What we did:
Our inspection was informed by evidence we already held about the service. We also checked for feedback from the local authority and other stakeholders. We checked records held by Companies House. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
We spoke with three people who use the service and six of their relatives. We spoke with the registered manager, the interim operations director, two locality managers, and six staff.
We reviewed three people’s care records in full as well as various parts of six people’s care plans, six staff personnel files, audits and other records about the management of the service and the supported living environment.