Optimal Care Services Limited

Updated 30 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.

Service and service type: Optimal Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing support to people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health who live in their own home or within supported living schemes.

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: We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be available. We were informed at this time that the registered manager was away on leave. The inspection process was supported by one of the directors of the service and a team manager. Following the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager on the telephone.

We also needed to obtain people’s consent to visit them as the service supported people in their own flats within a supported living scheme and in the community.

Inspection site visit activity started and ended on 25 April 2019. We visited the office location on this date to see the manager and office staff, to review care records, policies and procedures. Following this we visited people at two supported living schemes with their permission.

What we did: Prior to the inspection, we reviewed the information that we held about the service and the provider including notifications affecting the safety and well-being of people who used the service. We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR) which the provider had sent to us. A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and the improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we spoke with three people using the service and three of their relatives to obtain their feedback on the care and support that they or their relative received. We also observed interactions between people and care staff. We spoke with the registered manager, a director of the service, two team managers and two support workers.

We looked at the care records for four people who used the service and medicines administration records and medicine supplies for three people. We also looked at the personnel and training files of four staff. Other documents that we looked at relating to people's care included risk assessments, staff meeting minutes, handover notes, quality audits, policies and procedures.

Updated 30 May 2019

About the service: Optimal Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own flats within supported living schemes as well as people living in their own homes in the community. The service supports people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health. The service was supporting six people at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service: Some people that we met were unable to tell us how they felt about the care and support that they received from Optimal Care Service Ltd. Our observations, however, were positive and we saw that people seemed happy and content with the support that they received. People who could speak with us told us that they were happy with the way in which they were supported.

Relatives also commented that they were assured that their relative was safe and that they received the appropriate care and support as required.

Risks associated with people’s care, medical and health needs had been identified and appropriately assessed so that support staff had the appropriate guidance to ensure people’s safety.

Staff knew of the different types of abuse and explained the actions they would take to safeguard people from harm.

People received their medicines safely and as prescribed. Policies in place supported this.

Only those staff assessed as safe to work with vulnerable adults were recruited. We observed there to be sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s assessed needs.

Care plans were detailed, person centred and gave clear direction to staff on how people wanted to be supported. However, for one person we did note that their care plan was not reflective of their current needs despite it being reviewed by the service. The care plan was updated following the inspection.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People had access to a variety of health care professionals and services where required.

People could choose what they wanted to eat and drink and were supported by staff to make healthy choices where appropriate. People were able to access drinks and snacks at any time.

Relatives told us that support staff were kind and caring. We observed positive, friendly and jovial interactions between people and the support staff.

People and their relatives knew who to speak with if they had any concerns to raise and were assured that this would be addressed appropriately.

Senior and team managers including the registered manager had systems in place which allowed them to monitor and check the quality of the care and support people received. This enabled them to implement further learning and improvements where required.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Report published October 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk