Archived: Social Care Solutions Ltd (Amersham Office)

Updated 19 July 2017

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.

This inspection took place on 12 & 13 June 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a supported living service for younger adults who are often out during the day; we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). 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. We reviewed notifications and any other information we had received since the last inspection. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.

Surveys were sent to staff, service users and community professionals prior to the inspection. We have used feedback from these to help inform our judgements about the service.

We spoke with the service manager, the area manager, a senior care worker and a care worker. We checked some of the required records. These included four people’s care plans, two people’s medicines records, four staff recruitment files and four staff training and development files. We also looked at a sample of other records which included policies and procedures, audit reports and monitoring checks.

We contacted two people’s relatives after the inspection.

Updated 19 July 2017

This inspection took place on 12 & 13 June 2017. It was an announced visit to the service.

This was the service’s first inspection since it registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Social Care Solutions Ltd (Amersham Office) provides care to four younger adults with learning disabilities in a supported living environment. Each person has their own individual flat and there is an additional communal area which people can make use of.

The service did not have 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. A registered manager left the service in March this year. The area manager for the service was intending to apply for registration. They were waiting for their criminal records check to be returned before they could submit an application.

We received positive feedback about the service. Comments from relatives included “I don’t know how you could improve it, it’s splendid,” “I’ve got nothing but praise” and “They’re incredibly caring.”

There were safeguarding procedures and training on abuse to provide staff with the skills and knowledge to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. Risk was managed well at the service so that people could be as independent as possible. Written risk assessments had been prepared to reduce the likelihood of injury or harm to support people to be independent and access the community. People were supported with their healthcare needs and their medicines were handled safely.

There were enough staff to support people. Staff were recruited using robust procedures to make sure people were supported by staff with the right skills and attributes. Staff received appropriate support through a structured induction, regular supervision and an annual appraisal of their performance. There was an on-going training programme to provide and update staff on safe ways of working.

Care plans had been written, to document people’s needs and their preferences for how they wished to be supported. These had been kept up to date to reflect changes in people’s needs. People were supported to take part in a wide range of social activities of their choice. Group activities were also arranged to avoid social isolation.

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 supported this practice.

Most of the records we checked were maintained to a good standard. We found improvement was needed to make sure best interest decisions were recorded where people lacked capacity to make decisions for themselves.

We also found improvement was needed to data protection practice. Staff used their mobile telephones to photograph the people they supported as they engaged in activities and were out and about in the community. There was no guidance to ensure people’s privacy was protected through this practice.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.