Archived: Human Support Group Limited - Gloucester

Updated 22 February 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This was an announced focused inspection of Human Support Group – Gloucester on 14 January 2019. This inspection only looked at two key questions, Is the service safe and well-led?

There had been no other concerns relevant to the other key questions, Is the service effective, caring and responsive so these were not inspected. All key questions at the last inspection were rated as Good.

Once in receipt of these concerns we discussed these with the registered provider and with the local authority who investigated these in accordance with locally agreed safeguarding protocols.

Notice of Inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it was possible that supporting staff may be out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Inspection team:

Two inspectors carried out this inspection.

Service and service type:

The service met the personal care needs of older and younger people, and those who lived with dementia, a learning and physical disability and mental health needs.

There is a registered manager in position. A registered manager, like a registered provider, is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

What we did:

Before we visited the service, we reviewed the information we held about it. This included notifications from the provider. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law. A Provider Information Return (PIR) was not requested prior to this inspection. A PIR is a form we ask the provider to send us annually, which gives some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account during the inspection.

During our visit to the office of Human Support Group – Gloucester we spoke with the registered manager and two other representatives of the provider. During this inspection we did not gather the views of people who used the service because our inspection focused on what systems and processes the service had in place to keep people safe. We reviewed all notifications we had received from the provider and inspected relevant records pertaining to these. We reviewed, staff recruitment files, records relating to the care and support people received and records relating to the management of their medicines. We also reviewed the provider’s last quality monitoring audit and current improvement action plan.

We requested and received a copy of the provider’s ‘Adults at Risk – Safeguarding’ Policy and Procedures and Statement of Purpose.

We requested feedback about the service from adult social care commissioners and did not receive any response of concerns.

Updated 22 February 2019

About the service:

Human Support Group – Gloucester is a domiciliary care agency (DCA). At the time of the inspection the agency was providing personal care to 94 people who lived in their own homes.

Why we inspected:

We had received information of concern that actions were not being taken to protect people from alleged abuse. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to look into those concerns and our findings are noted in this report. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Human Support Group – Gloucester on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

We found the characteristics of Good had been maintained for both key questions inspected on 14 January 2019. The service rating therefore remained ‘Good’ overall.

People’s experience of using this service:

We inspected the systems and processes which ensured people remained safe and the service was well managed.

Risks to people from potential abuse and harm had been assessed and action had been taken to reduce such risks. There were enough staff available to ensure people received their care visits and systems in place to respond to any unplanned alterations in people’s planned visits. Staff were safely recruited, medicines were managed safely and steps taken to reduce the spread of infection.

At the time of our visit an application to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) by the branch manager to be the registered manager of Human Support Group – Gloucester was being processed by CQC. This has been successfully completed and there is now a registered manager in position at the Gloucester branch.

The registered manager managed the service effectively. They implemented the provider’s systems to ensure people received the support they required. Senior managers supported this by quality monitoring the service provided to people and reporting their findings to the registered manager. Where the registered manager identified risks or improvement required to the service provided to people, they took action to address this.

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating was Good (report published 30 October 2017).

Follow up:

We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform us of the service’s progress and of any risks, and to help us plan the next inspection accordingly.