Archived: The Bungalow (DCC Homecare Service)

Updated 2 June 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 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.

This inspection took place on the 19 April 2016 and was announced. The provider was given five days’ notice because the location provides a supported living service and we wanted to arrange to visit people in their home and to make sure staff were available to speak with us. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

We checked the information we held about the service and the provider. This included notifications the provider had sent to us about significant events at the service and information we had received from the public.

We did not send the provider a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. However, we gave the management team the opportunity to provide us with information they wished to be considered during our inspection.

We used a range of different methods to help us understand people’s experiences. We met two people in their day service and visited a further three people in their homes and made a telephone call to one relative. We spoke with four care staff, a deputy manager and the unit manager. We looked at care records for five people to see if their records were accurate and up to date. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including quality checks.

Updated 2 June 2016

The inspection took place on April 19 2016. This was an announced inspection and we gave the provider five days notice in order to arrange for staff to meet with us and to visit people in their own home. It was last inspected in October 2013 and met all of the standards that we reviewed.

The Bungalow (DCC Homecare Service) provides domiciliary care to up to six adults with learning disabilities in supported living accommodation in two community properties. Although six people lived in the accommodation the service was only providing personal care to five people when we inspected.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 full service and was supported by a unit manager and a deputy manager. The deputy manager oversaw the day to day management of the service and we refer to them as ‘the manager’ in this report.

People were kept safe by staff who understood their responsibilities to protect them. Each person had a key worker who supported them to make choices about their care and what they wanted to achieve. They planned their week to make sure they pursued their interests and did the activities that they liked. They had care plans in place to support this and they were involved in reviewing these regularly.

We saw that there were enough staff to support people and that those staff had been recruited following procedures to check that they were safe to work with people. They received training and support to ensure that they could support people well. We saw that they had positive relationships with people and that they used specialist equipment to assist people to make choices about their care. People were supported to make their own decisions about their care and support.

Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were assessed and actions were put in place to reduce them so that people could lead as independent lives as possible. Medicines were given to people safely and records were well maintained and managed. Staff supported people to maintain their health and to participate in managing their own wellbeing. We saw that people chose their own food and drink and were supported to prepare this themselves.

The manager was approachable and listened to people. There were a range of systems to monitor and improve the quality of the service. This included responding to complaints and implementing actions from them.