ENS Care & Support

Updated 12 May 2022

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 Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

Three Inspectors and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service also provides care and support to people living in ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection to enable us to collate as much information as possible virtually to minimise the time spent by the inspection team visiting the provider’s office.

Inspection activity started on 5 April 2022 and ended on 22 April 2022. We visited the office location on 12 April 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. Not all people were able to talk with us so we observed staff’s interactions with people and people’s body language to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.

We spoke with 19 members of staff including the compliance manager, HR manager and head of health and social care. At the time of our inspection, the registered manager was on annual leave.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We reviewed feedback received from six health and social care professionals.

Updated 12 May 2022

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 statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

About the service

ENS Care & Support provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes or within a supported living setting.

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. At the time of our inspection 59 people were using the service, of which 28 were receiving personal care.

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

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.

Right support

• People were supported to have choice, control and independence.

• People were supported by staff to pursue their interests and maintain relationships with family and friends.

• Staff enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community.

• Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome.

Right Care

• People received kind and compassionate care. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and promoted their independence.

• People who had individual ways of communicating, such as using body language, pictures and symbols could interact comfortably with staff and others involved in their care because staff had the necessary skills to understand them.

• People’s care plans reflected their range of needs to guide staff on how to promote their wellbeing and enjoyment of life.

• Potential risks to people had been identified, assessed and managed to reduce the risk of harm.

Right culture

• People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff.

• People received good quality care and support by trained staff.

• Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.

• Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

We received largely positive feedback from people, relatives and health and social care professionals about the quality of care people received. However, we received mixed feedback regarding staffing levels.

Robust systems were in place for the recruitment of staff.

Staff received regular supervision and on-going training which promoted people’s health, safety and welfare. Staff felt valued and supported and enjoyed working at the service.

The provider had systems and processes in place to regularly monitor the safety and quality of the service to drive improvements.

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 27 February 2020).

At our last inspection we recommended the provider reviewed if restrictive interventions had been used when incidents occur, in line with best practice. We also recommended the provider ensured staff had behaviour support training in line with current best practice. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on these recommendations and had made improvements.

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

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.