Haven Group Offices

Updated 5 January 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 team consisted of an inspector, a regulatory coordinator who spoke with staff 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. Currently it only provides personal care to people living in 6 'supported living’ settings, so 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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small, and we wanted to be sure the registered manager would be available. Inspection activity started on 18 October and ended on 23 October 2023.

What we did before the inspection

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 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 all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the service and 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 5 members of care staff including 2 team leaders and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included 5 people’s care records and medication records. We looked at 5 staff files in relation to recruitment, training, and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were viewed.

Updated 5 January 2024

Haven Group offices is a domiciliary care service that is currently only providing personal care to people in supported living services. The service cares and supports older people and younger adults who may have a physical disability, learning disability and/or autism. At the time of the inspection 17 people were receiving personal care and lived in their own accommodation.

People’s experience of the 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 assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

Staff supported people to have the maximum possible choice and control, independence was promoted and they had control over their own lives.

People had a fulfilling and meaningful lives because staff focused on their strengths and promoted what they could do.

People were supported with their medicines in a way that promoted the best possible health outcomes.

People were supported to gain skills and independence.

People were supported by proactive and innovative staff to pursue their interests. People told us they enjoyed a variety of activities in the local community. Staff supported people to identify and achieve their aspirations and goals. People were active members of their community and staff valued people's achievements.

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. Staff supported people to make decisions following best practice in decision-making.

Right Care:

Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual needs.

People could communicate with staff and understand information given to them because staff supported them consistently and understood their individual communication needs.

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. People’s care, treatment and support plans reflected their range of needs, and this promoted their wellbeing and enjoyment of life. The service supported people with opportunities to try new activities that enhanced and enriched their lives.

Right Culture:

Quality monitoring and auditing of the service was mainly completed at the individual supporting living properties. However, this was not seen to be consistently recorded at the registered location level of the service.

The management oversight of the safety and quality of the service was not always recorded to show how it was analysed or actioned to ensure any themes or trends were identified. We have made a recommendation the provider develops and establishes systems and processes to oversee the quality and safety of the service at management level.

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviors of the management and staff. Staff knew and understood people well and were very responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing.

Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. People and those important to them were involved in planning their care. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families, and other professionals as appropriate.

Staff valued and acted upon people’s views. People’s quality of life was enhanced by the service’s culture of improvement and inclusivity.

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 4 January 2018)

Why we inspected

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

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, responsive and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained the same. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation the provider develops and establishes systems and processes to oversee the quality and safety of the service at management level.

Follow Up

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