JM Carehomes Limited

Updated 23 August 2019

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and specialist housing. 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

This inspection was announced.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 2 August 2019 and ended on 13 August 2019. We visited the office location on 2 August 2019.

What we did before the inspection

When planning our inspection, we used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections We looked at the information we held about the service. This included notifications received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts, which they are required to send us by law.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, three operational managers and three members of the care staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care plans and multiple medicine records and audits. We looked at three 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 also 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 spoke with two professionals who regularly visit people at the service.

Updated 23 August 2019

About the service

JM Carehomes Limited is a domiciliary care service which offers personal care and assistance to support people living in supported accommodation. The service supports people over 11 houses in the community and at the time of our inspection there were 40 people using the service.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and good practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning difficulties and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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 were safeguarded from the potential of harm and their freedoms protected. Potential risks to people had been assessed and managed appropriately by the registered manager. People received their medicines safely and as prescribed and people were supported by sufficient numbers of staff to ensure that risk of harm was minimised.

Staff had been recruited appropriately and had received relevant training, so they were able to support people with their individual care and support needs. Staff received supervision and a yearly appraisal to support them to develop their careers and provide the support people required.

Staff sought people’s consent before providing care and 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.

People were treated with understanding, kindness and compassion. People’s rights to privacy were respected by the staff who supported them to maintain their dignity. People were supported to express their views and encouraged to be actively involved in making decisions about their care and support needs.

Each person had a care plan based upon an assessment of their needs which was regularly reviewed. The care plan included personal details about the persons choices for food and how they wished to live and be supported. People using the service were aware of the complaints process and were confident about approaching the registered manager and senor staff if they needed to.

There were effective auditing systems in place to monitor the quality of service provision. The views of people on about the service was gathered and used to support service development. The service worked closely with other professionals to support people using the service.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence.

The Secretary of State has asked the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to conduct a thematic review and to make recommendations about the use of restrictive interventions in settings that provide care for people with or who might have mental health problems, learning disabilities and/or autism. Thematic reviews look in-depth at specific issues concerning quality of care across the health and social care sectors. They expand our understanding of both good and poor practice and of the potential drivers of improvement.

As part of thematic review, we carried out a survey with the registered manager at this inspection. This considered whether the service used any restrictive intervention practices (restraint, seclusion and segregation) when supporting people.

The service used positive behaviour support principles to support people in the least restrictive way. No restrictive intervention practices were used.

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)

At our last inspection in March 2017 we rated the service as good. The report was published on 26 April 2017.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating and the inspection was also prompted in part due to concerns received about a safeguarding referral. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern.

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.