Action 2 Care

Updated 22 March 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 was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

The service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides care and supported 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 the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

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 met 2 people who used the service. We spoke with 1 relative about their family members experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, a team leader and a support worker.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care and medication records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service including quality monitoring, minutes of staff meetings and staff training.

Updated 22 March 2023

About the service

Action 2 Care is a domiciliary care and supported living service that provides personal care and support to people living in their own home and included 24 hour care. The supported living services did not include communal facilities. At the time of our inspection there were 4 people using the service.

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 people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

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 were supported by staff to make decisions about their day to day life. This included enabling people to live in their own home with support or within supported living accommodation.

Staff supported people to achieve their goals to maintain and achieve greater independence, which included the completion of household tasks such as cleaning, grocery shopping, food preparation and cooking.

People were supported to make decisions as to how they spent their day, which included voluntary work and the pursuit of leisure activities within their local community. People were supported to maintain and develop new relationships with their peers.

Staff had a good understanding of people’s needs and how to respond and support people to maximise their wellbeing when they became anxious or distressed.

Right Care:

Some improvements were needed to electronic care records for medicine management to ensure it was clear which medicine people had taken. People were supported to access health care services where required. Staff followed guidance developed by health care professionals to support and maintain people’s health and wellbeing.

People’s needs were assessed and kept under review. Assessments considered all aspects of people’s care, considering their human rights and lifestyle choices.

People’s support plans were personalised and provided information as to how they wanted staff to support them. People and relatives were positive about the support and care provided and the impact of positive staff support on gaining confidence and independence.

People were supported by staff who were inducted into their role and had undertaken the necessary training to enable them to meet people’s needs.

Right Culture:

The registered manager had a clear vision as to the service they wished to provide. Systems and processes were in place to assess the quality of the service being provided, which included a range of audits. People’s views as to the quality of the service were sought and analysed. The registered manager had developed action plans to bring about improvement based on the outcome of audits and people’s views.

People had access to information in a format to support their understanding and information about their communication style, communication needs were recorded within their support plans.

Staff spoke positively of the support they received from the registered manager, which included regular meetings and supervision. Communication systems amongst all staff were effective to promote good quality care and support.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 15 February 2022).

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

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