Archived: South East DCA

Updated 21 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 undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type:

East Surrey DCA is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people with learning disabilities living in supported living accommodation. Supported living services enable people to live as independently as possible in their own homes.

People using the service lived in shared housing or individual flats within a supported living scheme across four sites in Surrey and South London. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living. This inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

A new manager had been appointed and was due to start on the 29 April 2019. To ensure management oversight during this time the provider had arranged for a peripatetic manager from within the organisation to oversee the service and provide day to day management support. This person is referred to as ‘the manager’ throughout this report.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed information, we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

Before, during and following the inspection we reviewed and spoke with;

• Notifications we received from the service.

• Care records and risk assessments of four people.

• Records of accidents, incidents and complaints

• Sought feedback from visiting professionals.

• Audits and quality assurance reports

• Received feedback from seven people using the service; and three staff.

• Spoke with the Manager and the Area Locality Manager.

• Medicines administrations records [MARs] of four people.

Updated 21 May 2019

About the service:

South East DCA provides personal care and support to people with learning disabilities living in ‘Supported Living’ accommodation. At the time of the inspection 12 people were receiving a service. People lived in individual flats or shared accommodation across four separate locations in Surrey and South London.

People’s experience of using this service:

Systems and process to ensure the accuracy of records were not always effective. Records held about people did not always reflect up to date information.

People could not be assured that they were receiving the correct level of support commissioned for them by the local authority as there were differing accounts of what the commissioned hours were. The rota did not accurately reflect the numbers staff who were working.

The manager was unfamiliar with systems and processes and was unable to provide or locate some of the information requested during the inspection.

People received a consistently good service and gave positive feedback about the staff and about the service they received. They told us that they felt safe and that there were enough staff to meet their needs. Staff received training in safeguarding and knew how to keep people safe.

Staff knew people well and provided support in the way people wanted it. People’s individual needs and preferences were known and understood by staff which meant they received a person centered service.

Staff supported people with timely access to healthcare and encouraged people to maintain a healthy wellbeing. People were supported to access range of community based activities and there was plenty of choice available daily.

Care was provided by knowledgeable staff who were trained to carry out their roles. Training and observation of staff practice as well as supervision ensured that that staff were competent in their roles.

People and their families were involved on the planning of their care and their individual needs and preferences were known and understood by staff. Staff had the skills needed to provide person centered care and demonstrated compassion for people’s wellbeing and a shared commitment to enhancing the quality of life for people.

Staff knew how to address concerns. People felt listened to and had the opportunity to raise concerns, ideas and share their experiences.

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

The provider demonstrated compassion and commitment to the needs of the people who used the service as well as the staff who worked for them. They worked professionally with agencies outside of the service and ensured a transparent, honest, open approach to their work which was valued by others.

Rating at last inspection:

The service became registered with CQC on the 4 April 2018. This was the first inspection since the service became registered.

Why we inspected:

This was a scheduled inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the service to ensure good quality is provided to people. We will return to re- inspect in-line with our inspection timescales for ‘Good’ rated services.

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