Kelsam Support Services Ltd

Updated 25 September 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had two managers 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

This inspection was announced.

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.

Inspection activity started on 12 August 2021 and ended on 25 August 2021. We visited the office location on 17 August 2021.

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 and also requested feedback from Healthwatch to obtain their views of the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with one of the registered managers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records, medication records and accident and incident records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data, policies and procedures and quality assurance records. We spoke with two relatives and one professional about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with four members of staff.

Updated 25 September 2021

About the service

Kelsam Support Service is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people who live in their own homes. The service specialises in supporting people with learning disabilities, acquired brain injuries, mental health, autism and physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection nine people were 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.

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

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 cared for and supported by a passionate and enthusiastic staff team led by a highly motivated management team.

Staff were trained with the required skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs. Staff were recruited safely. The provider had robust recruitment processes in place to ensure only staff suitable to work with vulnerable adults were employed.

There was a strong person-centred culture established within the service. People received person-centred care that was tailored to meet their individual needs by staff that were caring, compassionate and kind. Staff knew people well and had formed positive relationships with them. Staff encouraged people to live as full a life as possible and supported them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

People and their relatives were involved in the care planning to ensure their decisions and choices were reflected. Care plans and risk assessments were detailed and documented people’s history, likes/dislikes, routines and goals.

People were treated as individuals and staff respected the choices they made. People’s social needs as well as their physical and emotional needs were incorporated into the plan of care and used to promote and maintain people’s abilities and independence. People were supported and encouraged to maintain their hobbies and interests and to access employment opportunities.

Where required people were supported to prepare their meals and drinks. Staff understood and met people’s nutritional needs.

Medicines were managed in a safe way. Where appropriate people were provided with the support they needed to take their medicines safely by staff who were trained and regularly had their competency assessed. Staff supported people to make and attend health appointments. The team worked closely with external health care professionals to ensure people’s health needs were met.

Staff understood their roles and what was expected of them. They told us they were supported and could give feedback and make suggestions to the registered managers and their views would be listened to.

The registered managers were hands on, visible and available for support. They knew people and their relatives well. People and relatives said the registered managers were approachable and felt happy and comfortable talking to them at any time. One person said, “I’m happy to discuss anything with them [registered managers]. You can talk to them [registered managers], they are never too busy to help.” People had access to information about how to raise a complaint.

The registered managers completed regular checks to make sure people received person-centred high-quality care.

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.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. The registered managers and staff team promoted a positive culture, they provided a service where people receive person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them. People’s support focused on people’s strengths and promoted independence. People were supported to make choices, to maintain important relationships and to access their local community and local health services.

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 25 November 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kelsam Support Services Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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