My Homecare County Durham

Updated 18 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

This 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 is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes and to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting, 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.

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 a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

Inspection activity started on 22 November 2023 and ended on 12 December 2023. We visited the location’s office and supported living setting on 22 November and 12 December 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. 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 (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 25 people and 12 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback via email from a further 2 relatives. We spoke with the registered manager, nominated individual, operations director, supported living service manager, 1 care co-ordinator, 2 team leaders and 9 support workers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We asked all staff members for their feedback via email and received 12 responses.

We looked at records which included 16 people's care and medicine records and 4 staff files. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were also reviewed.

Updated 18 January 2024

About the service

My Homecare County Durham (previously known as My Homecare Durham) is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to children and adults in their own homes. The service also provides personal care and support to adults with learning disabilities and autistic people living in a 'supported living' setting. At the time of the inspection there were 122 people receiving personal care.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and/or who are autistic.

Right support

People received safe care and support in their own homes. Staff received training in safeguarding and knew how to protect people from the risk of abuse. Most people and relatives were happy with the care and support provided. Staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do, so people had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their needs.

Staff did everything they could to avoid restraining people. The service recorded when staff restrained people, and staff learned from those incidents and how they might be avoided or reduced.

People said their care calls were mostly on time and they were supported by a consistent staff team, which made them feel safe. Staff had a good understanding of people's needs and how they wished to be supported.

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.

Right care

People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to people’s individual needs. Staff were recruited safely, and people received support from a small team of consistent staff wherever possible.

Staff and people co-operated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks. People had good relationships with staff and were happy with the way staff supported them. Medicines were managed safely and administered by staff who had completed relevant training and were deemed competent.

Right culture

The registered manager encouraged an open and positive culture. The service was well managed and provided good quality, consistent care to people in their own homes. People were supported to be as active and independent as possible. They were encouraged to participate in activities within the service and in the local community, and to maintain contact with family and friends.

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management team and staff. The provider regularly sought feedback from people who used the service, their relatives and health and social care professionals to continually improve the service. There were effective quality monitoring systems in place.

We have made a recommendation regarding care plans.

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 8 August 2018).

Since the last inspection the provider applied to CQC to make changes to their registration, namely moving to a new office location. This inspection started whilst the service was registered at premises in Consett. During the inspection, CQC approved the provider’s application to move to an office location in Stanley, near the address where people live in a supported living setting.

Why we inspected

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

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led. 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 remains 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 My Homecare County Durham 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.