About the service Human Support Group Limited - Gateshead, Callendar Court is a domiciliary care agency proving personal care and support to people living in their own flats within one large adapted building. Not everyone living at Callendar Court received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help and with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of inspection 33 people were receiving personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People felt safe living at the service and spoke highly of staff and the management team. Staff were kind, caring and respectful with people.
Since our last inspection the registered manager and regional director had worked hard to improve the service. They had looked at opportunities to improve every aspect of the service and were committed to improving the service further.
There was enough staff available to support people with their allocated visits and that staff were available in an emergency situation. Staff told us that they felt the staffing levels were appropriate to meet the needs of people. People told us that staff took their time and chatted whilst delivering personal care.
The service worked in partnership with other agencies to support people to attend activities within Callendar Court and within the local community. People were encouraged to remain as independent as possible by 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.
Care plans were person centred and were developed from in depth initial assessments of people’s needs. People had regular reviews of their care needs and referrals were made to other healthcare professionals. Care plans included advice and guidance from other agencies.
Medicines were safely managed, regularly reviewed and staff received competency checks to make sure they could safely administer medicines. Risks to people were identified and actions put in place for staff to follow to mitigate risks.
The registered manager provided support to staff via team meetings, regular supervisions and appraisals. Staff received an induction from the provider and regular refresher training.
The quality and assurance systems in place had been improved since our last inspection and the registered manager was able to continuously improve the quality of care provided due to this.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 24 May 2019) and there were multiple breaches of the regulations. At this inspection the registered manager and regional director had taken robust action to improve.
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the service had made sustained improvements and addressed the issues identified at the last inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor the service through information we receive from the service, provider, the public and partnership agencies. We will re-visit the service in line with our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.