Include 'In' Autism

Updated 7 December 2022

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

2 inspectors carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period 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 11 October and ended on 25 October 2022. We visited the service on 11 October 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 relatives of people who used the service. We spoke with 3 members of staff including the registered manager and two service managers. We emailed 5 staff members seeking their experience of working at the service and 2 replied.

We looked at the care records of 2 people, and other records related to the management of the home. We spoke with 1 social care professional and received written feedback from 2 social care professionals.

Updated 7 December 2022

About the service

Include in Autism is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in the community with a diagnosis of autism. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 2 people.

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: The service did not always follow safe recruitment processes. People were not always supported by a familiar staff team. The service is recruiting to ensure people have a larger staff team which will reduce the use of agency staff. Staff supported people to take part in activities and pursue their interests in their local area. The management team supported people and their families in meetings with external healthcare professionals.

Right Care: Staff and people cooperated to assess risks people might face. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse. Some staff knew and understood people well.

Right Culture: Quality assurance systems were not always effective. The provider had not identified the failings in recruitment via their quality assurance systems. Staff told us they felt supported by the management team. The registered manager was passionate about providing good care and especially enabling children to have a voice.

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 8 December 2021).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to the failure to follow safe recruitment procedures.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.