Background to this inspection
Updated
11 February 2016
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 was 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.
The inspection took place on 9 November 2015 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice of our intention to inspect the service. This is in line with our current methodology for inspecting domiciliary care agencies.
The inspection was undertaken by three adult social care inspectors.
Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) which we reviewed in order to prepare for the inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about Creative Support (Warrington Personalised Services). We also looked at all the information which the Care Quality Commission already held on the provider. This included previous inspections and any information the provider had to notify us about. We invited the local authority to provide us with any information they held about Creative Support – Warrington Personalised Services. We took any information provided to us into account.
During the site visit we spoke with the registered manager of Creative Support (Warrington Personalised Services and an area director who provided assistance to the inspection team. We also contacted three relatives and one service user by telephone and undertook home visits to two housing schemes by invitation and spoke with three people who used the service and two staff. We encouraged people using the service to communicate with us using their preferred methods of communication and attempted to speak with all people using the service or their relatives. Three service users could not be contacted and / or refused to speak with us.
We looked at a range of records including three care plans belonging to people who used the service. This process is called pathway tracking and enables us to judge how well the service understand and plan to meet people’s care needs and manage any risks to people’s health and well-being. Examples of other records viewed included; policies and procedures; three staff files; minutes of meetings; complaint and safeguarding logs; rotas and / or visit schedules; staff training and audit documentation.
Updated
11 February 2016
This inspection was announced and took place on the 9 November 2015.
The agency was previously inspected in June 2014 when it was found to be meeting all the regulatory requirements which were inspected at that time.
Creative Support (Warrington Personalised Services) is a domiciliary care service that is part of Creative Support Ltd (The Provider). Creative Support is a 'Not for Profit' organisation.
The Warrington personalised service is coordinated from business premises in Museum Street, Warrington. The domiciliary care service in Warrington currently provides personal care and support to 10 adults with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and / or mental health care support needs who live within the Warrington district.
At the time of the inspection there was a registered manager at Creative Support (Warrington Personalised Services). 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.
The registered manager of Creative Support (Warrington Personalised Services) was present during the two days of our inspection and engaged positively in the inspection process, together with other members of the office management team and staff.
People spoken with told us they felt safe and confirmed they had confidence in the staff that provided them with care and support. There were systems in place to protect people from abuse such as safeguarding training and policies and procedures on how to recognise and respond to suspicion or evidence of abuse. Staff were aware of the provider's procedures for reporting any safeguarding concerns and how to whistle blow.
Records showed that the needs of prospective service users had been assessed prior to using the service. Care and / or support plans and risk assessments had also been completed to ensure staff understood how to meet individual needs and keep people safe.
People using the service and / or their relatives told us that they received a reliable service. There were contingency arrangements in place to cover staff absences and robust procedures were followed for staff recruitment. This helped protect people against the risks of unsuitable staff gaining access to work with vulnerable adults.
People received appropriate support to manage their medicines. Staff received medicines training and systems were in place to check that medicine was administered as directed by the prescriber and to review daily balances.
Staff had access to induction, mandatory and other training that was relevant to their roles and responsibilities. Staff spoken with also confirmed that they had received formal supervision and attended team meetings at regular intervals.
Staff understood the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and were aware of the need to consider whether people had capacity. We noted that that files contained records of consent for areas such as care planning, administration of medicines and support with finances.
The provider had developed a complaints procedure and people using the service and / or relatives spoken with told us that in the event they needed to raise a concern they were confident they would be listened to and the issue of concern acted upon promptly.
Systems had been established to obtain feedback from people using the service and staff via annual surveys and a range of audits. The provider also undertook its own internal audits periodically, to monitor and review the standard of service delivered.