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Archived: Domiciliary Support Team

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Redbank House, 4 St Chads Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M8 8QA (0161) 740 3456

Provided and run by:
Outreach Community and Residential Services

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile
Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 2 May 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One adult social care inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service; they had cared for a relative with a learning disability.

Service and service type:

This service provides care and support to people living in five ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. This service also provides personal care to individual people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection it was providing this type of care and support to 17 people.

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that 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:

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit to be sure the registered manager, staff and people they supported would be available to speak with us.

What we did:

Inspection site visit activity took place between 08 and 15 April 2019. We visited the office location on the 10 April 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

Before our inspection we completed a 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. 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.

We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and from Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We visited a supported living house and made telephone calls to people receiving a service and their relatives. During the inspection, we spoke with nine people who used the service. The nature of the disability of some people was such that it was not always possible to gain direct views about their experiences of the support provided. In those instances, we used observations of their interactions with the staff team and the non-verbal communication they relayed in order to assess how comfortable they were with the staff team. Other people were able to give direct accounts of their experiences.

We also spoke with the registered manager, registered provider, three senior managers and four members of support staff. We looked at six peop

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 2 May 2019

About the service: Domiciliary Support Team is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people with learning disabilities who live in their own homes and in five supported living settings. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 17 people in their individual homes and to 21 people in the five supported living settings.

People’s experience of using this service:

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support. The service promoted 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 with learning disabilities and autism using the service could live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

Everyone we spoke with was happy with the service. One relative told us, “The staff go over and above what is expected. The support is reliable, flexible and the care staff are really supportive to the person they support and the families too. They make a real effort to give my relative a really good quality of life.”

People continued to receive a consistently good service and were protected from avoidable harm. The staff team were well-trained and in sufficient numbers to meet people’s needs.

Staff supported people to engaged in work placements, college courses, volunteer work, fund raising and they regularly took part in sporting and community events.

Healthcare and social care professionals praised the staff team for monitoring people’s healthcare and working together in partnership with them to promote people’s health and general well-being.

The provider and the registered manager used a variety of ways to monitor the quality of the service and to involve people in the running of the service.

Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated good (published 19 March 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection to check that this service remained good.

Follow up: We will monitor as part of the inspection programme for a good service. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk