Origin Spinal Injury Care

Updated 26 October 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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.

Origin Spinal Injury Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people with spinal injuries living in their own homes. The service covers a wide range of dependency needs including Older People, Physical Disability, Sensory Impairment and younger adults.

This comprehensive inspection visit took place on 28 September, 01 and 02 October 2018 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provided a domiciliary care service to people who lived in the community. We needed to be sure that we could access the office premises.

The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector.

Before our inspection we completed our planning tool and reviewed the information we held on the service. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people supported by the service and previous inspection reports. We also checked to see if any information concerning the care and welfare of people supported by the service had been received. We contacted the commissioning departments who used the service and Healthwatch Lancashire. This helped us to gain a balanced overview of what people experienced accessing the service.

As part of the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is 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.

During the inspection visit we spoke with a range of people about the service. They included seven people supported in the community and four staff members. We also went to the Origin Spinal Injury Care office and spoke with a director of the company and the registered manager.

We looked at the care records of three people, recruitment and supervision records of three staff members, the training matrix and records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 26 October 2018

Origin Spinal Injury Care provides 24-hour live-in care for people with spinal injuries. Services are specifically designed for those people with a spinal injury, and undertaken by staff who have had specialist training. People who use the service are not ill, but they are disabled, and the carer's role is to make independent living a reality by working with the service user to overcome the obstacles of day-to-day life. The service operates nationally in the United Kingdom and Eire. When we undertook this inspection the service was supporting 37 people on a permanent basis and approximately nine people as and when required.

At our last inspection we rated the service Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

There was a registered manager in place. 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.

We spoke with seven people supported by the service. They told us staff who supported them were polite, friendly, caring and well trained in spinal injury care. They told us they received patient and safe care and they liked the staff who supported them. Comments received included, “My personal assistants are extremely caring and conscientious staff. They are well informed about my needs.” And, “I have very good staff supporting me. They are competent, well trained, friendly and helpful. I feel comfortable and safe in their care.”

Procedures were in place to record safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents and take necessary action as required. Staff had received safeguarding training and understood their responsibilities to report unsafe care or abusive practices.

Risk assessments had been developed to minimise the potential risk of harm to people during the delivery of their care. These had been kept under review and were relevant to the care provided.

Staff had been recruited safely, appropriately trained and supported. They had skills, knowledge and experience required to support people with their care and social needs.

People who used the service were asked their views on staff performance to enable effective supervisions to take place. Feedback to staff was carried out to enable continuous improvement and development to take place.

Staff knew people they supported and provided a personalised service. Care plans were organised and had identified the care and support people required.

The service had safe infection control procedures in place and staff had received infection control training. Staff spoken with confirmed they had been provided with protective clothing such as gloves and aprons as required. This reduced the risk of cross infection.

Staff responsible for assisting people with their medicines had received training to ensure they had the competency and skills required. People told us they received their medicines at the times they needed them.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

People's care and support was planned with them. People told us they had been consulted and listened to about how their care would be delivered.

Staff supported people to have a nutritious dietary and fluid intake. Assistance was provided in preparation of food and drinks as people needed. The people we spoke with during the inspection told us they were happy with the support they received with meal provision.

People were supported to have access to healthcare professionals and their healthcare needs had been met.

People told us staff were caring towards them. Staff we spoke with understood the importance of high standards of care to give people meaningful lives.

People we spoke with said they were treated with respect and dignity by staff who supported them. They told us they didn’t feel uncomfortable having staff staying in their homes to provide them with 24-hour care.

People who used the service knew how to raise a concern or to make a complaint. The service had kept a record of complaints received and these had been responded to appropriately.

The service used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included weekly care manager meetings, senior management meetings, quality assurance calls, satisfaction surveys and care reviews. People supported by the service confirmed they has regular contact from the service to ensure they were happy.

The registered manager and staff were clear about their roles and responsibilities and were committed to providing a good standard of care and support to people in their care.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.