Embrace UK Community Support Centre

Updated 14 February 2023

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 2 inspectors 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. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing.

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 we needed to be sure the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 9 November 2022 and ended on 2 December 2022. We visited the location’s office on 9 November 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 2 people who used the service and 11 relatives. We spoke with 9 staff including the registered manager, operations manager, field worker, human resources officer and 4 care staff. We looked at a range of management records including medicines, quality audits and staff recruitment. We reviewed 4 people’s care records including risk assessments and 4 staff recruitment records. After the site visit, we continued to liaise with the service. The registered manager sent us documentation we asked for and clarified any queries we had.

Updated 14 February 2023

About the service

Embrace UK Community Support is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own home. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 22 people with 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.

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

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

Right support

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. People lived at home with family members who told us their relative was safe with care staff.

People had their risks assessed to reduce the risk of potential harm to them. Recruitment checks were carried out to ensure staff employed were safe to work with people. Systems were in place to report and learn from any incidents

Right care

The care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. Most relatives told us staff were kind and caring towards their relative and treated them with dignity and respect. People were supported to maintain their privacy, dignity and independence by a staff who knew them well. Staff were matched to people based on their skills, qualities and interactions with people who used the service. Staff training was not always effective. We have made a recommendation in relation to staff training.

People had their communication needs met and information was shared in a way that could be understood. People were supported to access food and drink that met their dietary needs and wishes. People were supported to stay healthy and well, and to access community health and social care services as and when required.

Right culture

Relatives told us the registered manager was approachable and took action to resolve issues where needed. Staff told us they were well supported by the registered manager and were listened to and encouraged to discuss their views regarding the service.

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 27 October 2020) and there were breaches of regulation. 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

We carried out an announced focused inspection of this service on 27 August 2020 and 02 September 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment, good governance,

We undertook this comprehensive inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements.

Follow up

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