Domiciliary Care Staffordshire

Updated 19 August 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 who visited 1 of the locations where people were supported. We spoke with relatives over the telephone following the site visit.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 2 ‘supported living’ settings. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

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 no registered manager in post. However, there was a new manager in post who planned to submit their application to register with CQC. This application will be reviewed when received.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service approximately 24 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 it registered with us. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection activity started on 6 June 2023 and ended on 19 July 2023. We visited the location’s office on 6 June 2023.

We spoke with 1 person living at the service and 3 relatives. We spoke with 5 members of staff including the regional manager, manager, and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records, including 4 people's care records and multiple medicine records. We looked at 4 staff recruitment files in relation to safe recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including; audits, policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 19 August 2023

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

Domiciliary Care Staffordshire is a supported living service. There were different accommodation types including self-contained flats and a shared house where people had their own bedrooms. The service provides support to adults with learning disabilities, autistic people and people with mental health conditions.

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 people receive such support, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection the service provided personal care to 4 people.

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

Right support

Staff focussed on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do so people had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life. People were supported by staff to follow their own interests. Staff knew how to keep people safe from the risk of harm. People’s medicines were safely managed by trained staff. People had access to and input from a range of health and social care organisations in the community to promote their well-being.

Right care

People received kind, compassionate care from consistent care staff. People’s care plans were detailed and person-centred. Staff knew people and their care and support needs well. There were enough suitably trained staff to support people and the service was actively recruiting more staff to make sure they could support more people moving into the service.

Right culture

People received good quality care and treatment from staff who were responsive to their needs. People’s needs and wishes were always at the centre of everything staff did. Staff involved people and relatives in their care planning and the manager had plans to seek further feedback to drive improvements for people they supported. Lessons were learned from incidents and learning was shared with staff.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection

We registered this service on 27 August 2021 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We were prompted to carry out this inspection due to concerns we received about the management of the service and people’s safety. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

Follow up

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