We carried out a review of the data available to us about Spectrum Days on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Spectrum Days, you can give feedback on this service.
Spectrum Days is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care and support to children and younger adults, living with a learning disability and complex health needs in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 5 people receiving personal care from the service. 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
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.
Right Support:
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 were skilled in the management of medicines. Risk assessments were in place and provided enough detail for staff to provide safe care. Staff were recruited safely and in line with the providers policy.
Right Care:
People received care that was provided by trained staff who knew them well. Care records provided enough detail, so people received care which was person centred and relevant to their needs. Staff received specific training in how to support people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
Right Culture:
The provider had good oversight of the service. They promoted a positive culture where support and care of people was the highest priority. People received safe care in a timely way. The registered manager and staff worked with other professionals to achieve good outcomes for people.
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 29 January 2021) and there was a breach of regulation. 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 improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good based on the findings of this inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.
Spectrum Days is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care and support to children and younger adults, living with a learning disability and complex health needs in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting eight 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’s equality and diversity had not been recorded. We have made a recommendation about the management of equality and diversity.
Medicines management procedures needed to be improved. We were not assured that people either received their medicines in a timely manner or as prescribed. There were quality assurance measures in place, however the records and quality assurance processes would benefit from further review.
There were enough suitably recruited staff on duty, however an update in recruitment procedures was required to ensure a full employment history was known.
Safeguarding procedures were understood and followed by the management and staff team and incidents and accidents were reported and investigated.
People and staff told us they were happy with care and support received. People had the opportunity to feedback on their experiences, but this had not been recorded and if any action needed had been taken.
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 guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People receive support which took account their needs wishes and choices. The provider ensured staff knew how to involve and promote people’s rights and choices.
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 Good (published 18 October 2019).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about safe care and provider oversight. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe and Well Led sections of this full report.
Enforcement
We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so. We have identified a breach in relation to medication recordings. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Spectrum Days on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
Spectrum Days is a domiciliary care agency that provides care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides services to children, younger and older adults who have a range of needs which include learning disabilities, varied complex health conditions, physical disabilities, varied complex health conditions and sensory impairments. At the time of the inspection eight people were receiving support.
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
Relatives told us their family members benefitted from receiving care and support from staff who approached their work with caring attitudes and treated people with dignity and respect.
People were supported by staff who had the knowledge to protect them from potential abuse as they knew how to recognise different forms of abuse and how to report this. Prospective staff underwent pre-employment checks to ensure they were suitable to provide care and support to people who used the service.
People's needs, and wishes were assessed alongside their representatives before their care and support started and; then kept under regular review.
The provider had processes to support people where required with their medicines. People would only require support to take their medicines if this was part of their care service.
Staff supported people with their diverse needs. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People had encouragement and support to carry on with the things they enjoyed doing in line with their support plans. Where required staff also supported and encouraged people to have enough to eat and drink.
Relatives felt their family members were treated with dignity and respect and staff showed warm and caring attitudes to the people they supported. The care and support people received reflected their personal needs and preferences.
People were supported to access appropriate health and social care professionals and services to ensure care remained responsive to their individual needs.
People were supported by their relatives who knew how to raise any concerns or complaints with the provider. The management team sought to involve people, their relatives and staff in the service.
The management team had processes to monitor and improve the quality of the service, there was a culture of openness and of reflection and learning.
People benefitted from a service where the management and staff team were committed to continue to provide personalised, supportive care to enhance people's lives as the service expanded.
Rating at last inspection:
The last rating for this service was good (published 10 March 2017).
Why we inspected:
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.
The provider registered this service with us to provide personal care and support for people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were eight people receiving care and support services.
There was a registered manager in post. 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.
Relatives told us their family member felt safe when they were receiving support whilst living within their family homes. Staff knew how to keep people safe and what risks people may be subject to, whilst maintaining their independence. Staff had been trained and were able to recognise signs of abuse and how to report it in order to keep people safe.
Relatives felt there were sufficient staff available and told us staff arrived on time at their home to provide the support they needed. Checks were made on staff prior to them starting work to ensure their suitability for employment.
Staff received training and support to enable them to provide care and support to people. Staff felt supported by the registered manager and provider. People had their privacy and dignity maintained and staff were able to describe how they managed this. Staff understood the needed to gain consent to care and treatment before providing any care and assistance. Where people did not have the capacity to consent best interest procedures had been followed.
People received appropriate support to ensure they received their medicines as prescribed and received healthcare support and advice to ensure their well-being. People received assistance with the preparation of meals and drinks as required.
Relatives were satisfied with the support their family member received, in a way they wanted. People had support plans in place describing their needs and risks associated with their support.
Staff told us they enjoyed their work and felt supported by the registered manager. Relatives were confident any complaints made would be listened to and responded to.
Systems were in place to monitor the service provided for people as a means to improve the quality of support people received.
We undertook an announced inspection on the 7 July 2015.We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our intention to undertake an inspection. This was because the organisation provides domiciliary care service to people in their own homes and or the family home if needed to be sure that someone would be available at the office.
The provider registered this service with us to provide personal care and support for people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were three people receiving care and support services.
There was a registered manager in post. 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.
People who used this service were safe, the provider, registered manager and care staff had a good understanding of their care needs and the risks associated with people’s individual needs.
The provider had employed sufficient numbers of staff to meet their requirements. Staff were trained in safeguarding so able to recognise potential signs of abuse in order to keep people safe. They knew how to report any concerns they identified.
The provider trained staff so they could administer medication. They had procedures in place to check that they were administered safely by weekly auditing the medication administration recording sheet (MAR) and spot checking.
Care staff had been recruited following appropriate checks, ensuring they were suitable to support people in their own homes
Relatives told us the staff supported people to make their own choices and consent for care where possible. Staff understood they could only care for and support people who consented to be cared for and knew when people were unable to consent best interest meetings needed to be held so that decisions were made by those people who knew them well and had the authority to do this.
People’s needs were assessed, staff understood their individual needs and were able to respond appropriately if they changed. Care plans were detailed and showed that relatives had been consulted if a person was not able to communicate their wishes and choices.
The chair of trustees told us she had a clear vision for the future of the service, which she shared with the whole team. She told us she wanted to expand the service but remain flexible and provide good quality care to each person who used the service.