Charis Care Solutions

Charis Care Solutions is a service which provides care for one person living in the community.

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.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

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

There was a registered manager who had been in post since the service was registered. Since our last inspection people using the service had moved to different providers and the service had not supported anyone with personal care from January 2019 until three days prior to our inspection.

There were enough staff to ensure people were safe. Where risks associated with people's health and wellbeing had been identified, plans were in place to manage those risks while ensuring people could remain independent. Staff had received training to safeguard people from harm and knew how to report concerns.

People’s care was person centred and was responsive to their individual needs. Staff had received training to understand how to support them well. Care records provided information in relation to people's backgrounds, interests and care needs.

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; systems supported this practice. The registered manager ensured care was based upon good practice guidance to help ensure people received an effective service. Promoting independence was encouraged and people were offered choices.

The registered manager and staff team worked closely with external healthcare professionals to ensure people's health and wellbeing was maintained.

Since our last inspection the registered manager had made improvements to how they checked the quality of the service and these were in place to monitor the care provided.

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 21 August 2017).

Previous breaches

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.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme which is six months for a service inspected, but not rated. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Charis Care Solutions is registered to provide personal care support to people. At the time of our inspection the agency supported six people, five of whom were in receipt of support with personal care and employed three care workers. The service is located in Coventry in the West Midlands.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes, including, older people, younger adults, people living with dementia and physical and learning disabilities.

This was the first inspection of Charis Care Solutions since their registration with us in June 2017.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run. The provider is the registered manager of this service and will be referred to as ‘the provider’ throughout this report.

The provider needed to further develop their knowledge and understanding of their regulatory responsibilities to ensure their policies and procedures were up to date, safe recruitment practices were consistently followed and quality monitoring systems were always effective. People and relatives were encouraged to share their views about the service to drive forward improvement.

People and relatives were very satisfied with the service they received and the way the service was managed. People and relatives were provided with information about how to make a complaint. No complaints had been received by the service. People’s medicines were managed safely.

People felt safe with their care workers and there were enough care workers to provide all planned care calls, at the times expected and for the length of time needed. The management team and care workers understood how to protect people from abuse and their responsibilities to raise any concerns.

People’s care records were personalised and most informed care workers how people wanted their care and support to be provided. People and, where appropriate, relatives were involved in developing and reviewing planned care.

Care workers had a good understanding of the needs and preferences of the people they supported. People who required support had enough to eat and drink and were assisted to manage their health needs. The provider and care workers worked with other professionals to support people to maintain their health and well-being.

People and relatives spoke highly of care workers attitudes, reliability and were confident care workers had the knowledge and skills needed to meet their needs. Care workers completed some training, including on-going training to provide them with the knowledge and skills need to meet people’s needs. Further training was being planned.

Care workers were inducted into the service and received regular management support through individual and team meetings. The provider was in the process of reviewing their induction to ensure it reflected nationally recognised guidance. Care workers felt valued and enjoyed working at Charis Care Solutions.

People’s privacy and dignity was respected and their independence promoted. The provider understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). Care workers had not completing further MCA training since starting work at the service. However, people confirmed they worked within the principles of the Act and the provider gave assurance future training was being planned.

Procedures were in place to ensure risk associated with people’s planned care were assessed. Risk management plans were up to date and provided staff with the information they needed to safely manage and reduce known risks. Care workers followed the guidance provided and understood how to minimise risks to people's safety.

We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.