Key Care and Support

Updated 12 June 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 and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Citibase Salford Keys is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to children and adults living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager 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

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 13 May 2021 and ended on 14 May 2021. We visited the office location on 13 May 2021 to speak to the registered manager and look at records relating to the running of the service. We spoke to care staff on 14 May 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

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.

During the inspection

We spoke with the relatives of three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, the quality assurance officer and care staff. We reviewed a range of records including three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures..

After the inspection

We looked at a variety of records related to the running of the service, which we had asked the provider to send to us.

Updated 12 June 2021

About the service

Citibase Salford Quays is a domiciliary care service, which provides support for both children and adults in the community, who require assistance with personal or nursing care. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting four people.

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.

Staff supported people to access other healthcare professionals when required and supported some people to manage their medicines safely. People were supported in a friendly and respectful way. People and their relatives were complimentary about the staff and their caring attitude.

Systems were in place to recruit staff safely; there were enough trained staff to support people safely. Steps were taken to minimise risks where possible. Risks to people's health and wellbeing were identified and monitored. Guidance was in place for staff on how to support people with these risks.

Staff promoted people's independence and treated them with dignity and respect. People were involved in making decisions about their care and involved in reviews to ensure their care plans met their needs and supported them to achieve outcomes. Staff supported some people to access the community.

People’s needs were comprehensively assessed before starting with the service; people and their relatives, where appropriate, had been involved in the care planning process.

Staff received the training and support they needed to carry out their roles effectively and received regular supervisions, competency checks and appraisals; staff we spoke with confirmed this.

People’s care plans were person-centred and provided staff with the information they needed to provide care and support in a way that met people’s needs and preferences.

The service had an open and supportive culture. Systems were in place to monitor the quality and safety of care delivered. There was evidence of improvement and learning from any actions identified.

The registered manager followed governance systems which provided effective oversight and monitoring of the service. These governance systems and processes were robust and identified areas of the service where improvements were needed.

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.

This service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People’s choice, control and independence was maximised; care was person-centred and promoted dignity and human rights.

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 Requires Improvement (published 26 February 2020) and there were no breaches of regulation.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Citibase Salford Keys 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.