Background to this inspection
Updated
9 May 2019
The Inspection:
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 is 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.
Inspection Team: The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.
Service and service type: Mencap East Hampshire provides care and support to two people living in a 'supported living' setting, so that they can live in their own home as independently as possible and four people living in their own homes outside of a supported living setting. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living. The agency provides a service to adults who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder. Not everyone using Mencap East Hampshire Domiciliary Care Agency received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 provider 24 hours’ notice of the inspection site visit to ensure that the registered manager would be present, and to ensure people’s consent was gained for us to contact them for their feedback.
What we did: Prior to the inspection we reviewed any notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law. We also reviewed any information about the service that we had received from external agencies. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
This inspection included speaking with three people, two relatives, two members of staff, two service managers and the registered manager. We reviewed records related to the care of four people. We reviewed recruitment files for four staff. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, policies and procedures, quality assurance documentation and complaints information. We asked for further information following the inspection including the end of life policy and supervision policy and these were received.
Updated
9 May 2019
About the service:
Mencap East Hampshire is a domiciliary care agency and is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes, some of whom lived in a ‘supported living’ environment. It provides a service to adults who have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder and younger adults. Not everyone using Mencap East Hampshire Domiciliary Care Agency received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection they were providing personal care to six people across Hampshire.
What life is like for people using this service:
People did not always receive a service that provided them with safe, effective and high-quality
care. risk management was not always effective. This meant that people could be at risk of harm.
The management of medicines had improved since the last inspection; however, further improvements were required.
Not all care plans covered a full range of people’s needs and some lacked guidance for staff.
Staff received regular support and supervision however, the provider was unable to demonstrate that staff’s concerns had been responded to and acted upon. Staff told us they felt well supported by the registered manager and had enough training to undertake their roles effectively.
Quality assurance processes were in place but needed some further development to ensure they were always effective in identifying areas for improvement promptly, as well as identifying trends.
People told us that care workers were good and that they were happy with the service being provided. Staff knew what was important to people and ensured people had support that met their needs and choices. People’s dignity and privacy was respected, and their independence was promoted.
Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (report published 13 February 2018)
Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection.
Follow up:
At the last inspection this service was rated ‘requires improvement’, at this inspection the rating remained the same. As the service is rated as requires improvement again we will meet with the provider following this report being published to discuss how they will make changes to ensure the service improves their rating to at least Good. We will request an action plan from the registered provider about how they plan to improve the rating to good and in addition, we will monitor all information received about the service to understand any risks that may arise and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.
More information is in the detailed findings below.