9 November 2016
During a routine inspection
Future Home Care provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the agency was providing a service for eight people with a variety of care needs, including people living with a learning disability or who have autism spectrum disorder. The agency was managed from a centrally located office base in Southampton.
The service did not have a registered manager however shortly before this inspection the manager applied to become the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.
The provider encouraged people to be as independent as possible. People were encouraged to set themselves goals and targets to achieve. Staff’s role in supporting them was clearly identified within people’s care plans meaning people were empowered, not de-skilled.
People and their families were encouraged to help develop and review their care plans. People told us the provider was responsive to feedback, suggestions and complaints and was willing to make changes to improve the service. People were encouraged to express their views and had access to advocacy services if required.
Care plans were detailed and contained information which helped enable staff to support people effectively with their health and wellbeing. The provider identified the level of support people needed with their medicines and when accessing healthcare. Staff supported people to engage as independently as possible in managing their medicines and attending health appointments.
People were supported with their dietary needs and were encouraged to make choices around their nutrition, playing an active role in shopping and cooking. Where people required specialist input, the provider consulted speech and language therapists to help ensure that people were being supported to safely follow their dietary requirements.
Risks to people’s safety were assessed and measures were put in place to minimise the risk of harm to people and staff. When incidents happened, the provider investigated them to identify causes and looked for ways to avoid them reoccurring. When significant incidents occurred within the service, the provider notified CQC.
There were a sufficient number of suitably trained and skilled staff to meet people’s needs. The provider made necessary recruitment checks to help ensure suitably skilled staff worked with people. Staff received an effective induction and training programme which was updated regularly or when guidance or procedure changed. Supervisions were effective in assessing and feeding back to staff about their work performance. The provider gave staff the opportunity to make suggestions and share learning in staff team meetings.
Staff treated people with dignity, respect, and followed legislation, which protected people’s rights and dignity. Staff told us they were confident in identifying safeguarding issues or concerns and were knowledgeable about the provider’s whistleblowing policy.
People, families and staff told us that the manager was approachable and honest and that they could come to them with concerns or issues. The manager had put in place quality assurance systems, which assessed and monitored the quality of care being provided. Improvement plans were regularly reviewed and updated which resulted in continuous improvements being made.