Archived: Royal Mencap Society - Outer Hampshire

Mencap North Hampshire Domiciliary Care Agency is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people in supported living houses across the north of Hampshire. The service predominantly provides support to people with a learning disability.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best 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 disabilities 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. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

At the time of this inspection the agency was providing a personal care service to 38 people.

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

People and their relatives thought the service provided safe care. Staff were aware of risks associated with people’s needs and these were assessed with plans developed to mitigate these. People received their medicines as prescribed although some improvements were needed with medicine records. Staff knew how to safeguard people from abuse. There was enough staff to meet people’s needs. However, agency staff were used to cover vacant hours which caused concern with some relatives and staff. A recruitment drive was in place to address this. Staff were recruited safely.

People’s needs were holistically assessed prior to the person using the service. People were asked about their protected characteristics to inform people’s care and support non-discriminatory practice. Staff were supported through supervision and training.

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 supported to access a range of healthcare professionals and other professionals to meet their needs and people’s nutritional and hydration needs were met.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent. People were supported by staff who were kind, caring and compassionate.

Improvements were needed to ensure people and their relatives had their concerns and complaints resolved and we have made a recommendation about this. Staff were knowledgeable about people needs, care was person-centred and individualised. People enjoyed a range of activities that met their needs.

An effective system was in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. People received person-centred care and staff put Mencap’s values into practice on a day to day basis. Relatives and staff had mixed views about the management of the service. The service worked in partnership with other agencies to promote and support people’s wellbeing.

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 23 February 2017.)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.

Mencap North Hampshire provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the agency was providing a personal care service to 25 people with a learning disability and a variety of care needs. The agency was providing a service to people across the north of Hampshire the majority of whom were living in houses providing 24 hour care and support for several people.

The agency had a registered manager. 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 oversaw the running of the service and was supported by service managers who were allocated a geographical area to manage. At the time of this inspection a temporary manager was managing the service whilst the registered manager had some planned extended leave from work.

Staff understood how to protect people from abuse and were responsive to their needs. People were protected against the risk of abuse, checks were made to confirm staff were of good character to work with people. There were sufficient staff to meet people's diverse needs and people were supported to take their medicine as prescribed.

Risk assessments and support plans had been developed with the involvement of people and their representatives. Staff had the relevant information on how to minimise identified risks to ensure people were supported in a safe way. Staff understood people’s needs and abilities and knew people well.

Staff were provided with a comprehensive induction and ongoing training to support the people they worked with.

The provider understood their responsibility to comply with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff knew about people’s individual capacity to make decisions and supported people to make their own decisions. People’s needs and preferences were met when they were supported with their dietary needs and people were supported to maintain good health.

The delivery of care was tailored to meet people’s individual needs and preferences. The provider actively sought and included people and their representatives in the planning of care. There were processes in place for people to express their views and opinions about the service provided.

People, relatives and staff spoke highly of the management. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service to enable the manager and provider to drive improvement.

We found that, despite a high turnover of staff, people were happy with their care. We spoke with three people, one of whom told us "I get lots of choices". Another person told us they "feel safe".

We spoke with two members of staff, both of whom told us they felt well supported.

We found that the service had improved in the areas that we asked for at our last inspection. For example, the care records were more detailed and personal to the individual and kept under regular review. Staff confirmed that there had been improvements and told us they thought people received good quality of care from a team that worked together to achieve this.

One of the relatives we spoke to was happy with the service and one was not. The relative who was not satisfied is currently in the process of changing provider.