North West Care Cooperative - Chester

Updated 10 May 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This 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 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 we needed to seek consent to visit people and speak to them about their views of the service. This was also because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 21 March 2022 and ended on 05 April 2022. We visited the office location on 05 April 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it registered. We also 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. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also watched a video from one person who had been unable to meet us in person; but wanted to share their views with us using this method of communication.

We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager and a number of personal assistants.

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

Updated 10 May 2022

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.

About the service

North West Care Cooperative - Chester is a domiciliary care service which provides care and support for its ‘members’. ‘Members’ are people who receive direct payments or personal health budgets; either for their own care or for the care of dependants. People using the service received care and support from personal assistants. The service was providing support to 16 people at the time of the inspection.

Not everyone 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

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right Support

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and personal assistants supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People had a choice in who supported them; and when their support would be provided. Personal assistants knew people well and trusting relationships had been formed.

Personal assistants supported people to take part in employment and education opportunities and to pursue their leisure interests in their local area.

Right Care

People received kind and compassionate care. Personal assistants protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity; understanding and responding to their individual needs.

Right culture

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the registered manager and personal assistants employed. People received good quality care and support and because appropriately trained personal assistants could meet their needs and wishes.

People receiving support, and those important to them, were involved in planning their care.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 04 March 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

We undertook this inspection to assess that the service is applying the principles of Right support right care right culture.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about the recording of prescribed medicines. We have also made a recommendation about documenting training records.

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.