Archived: Creative Support - Dudden Mews

Updated 2 November 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 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.

The inspection took place on 14 September 2017 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our inspection because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to make sure that the manager would be available to speak with us when we visited the service.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before our inspection a Provider Information Return (PIR) was requested from the provider. A PIR provides key information about the service, what it does well and improvements that are planned to be made. We reviewed all of the information that we held about the service internally, including statutory notifications that the provider had sent us. In addition, we obtained feedback from the local safeguarding adults team, the contracts and commissioning team and health care professionals about the service. We used all of the information we had gathered to inform the planning of our inspection.

A range of different methods were used to gather information and feedback about the service. We reviewed the provider’s annual survey for people using the service and community professionals. During the inspection we talked with seven people, three relatives, the manager, scheme co-ordinator and four care workers. We called to see three people who attended a day centre so we could also give them the opportunity to express their views on the service. We examined four people’s care plans, staff recruitment, training and supervision records, and reviewed other records related to the management and quality of the service.

Updated 2 November 2017

We carried out this announced inspection 14 September 2017. This was the first inspection since the service was registered in February 2016.

Creative Support - Dudden Mews Extra Care Housing Scheme (Creative Support) provides personal care to people who are tenants in Dudden Mews. Personal care is provided by an on-site domiciliary care team managed by Creative Support and is offered across the day and at night. At the time of the inspection 13 people were receiving care ranging from a few hours a week up to several hours per day. The scheme was built in 2009 and the personal care element had been provided by other providers in the past prior to Creative Support taking over in February 2016.

A registered manager was in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager (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 feedback we received from people using the service and their relatives was very positive. People told us they were very satisfied with the standards of care and support they received. They described how they enjoyed good working relationships with care staff and they were treated with dignity and respect.

We found the service had established effective systems to protect people from abuse and respond to any safeguarding concerns. Risks to personal safety had been assessed and measures were in place to prevent people from being harmed.

People received person centred care in line with their individual needs and preferences. Care planning was focused on the well-being of the individual, how they preferred to be supported and the outcomes they wished to achieve. There was a clear commitment to support people in a way that promoted their independence.

Good links had been developed with the local community and activities were arranged to encourage people to socialise and help avoid isolation.

People were supported in their own homes by well-trained staff that were able to meet people’s needs safely. Staff were appropriately and robustly recruited to check their suitability. There was sufficient staffing capacity to ensure people received safe, consistent care.

Good support was given to people to maintain their health and, where needed, to meet their dietary requirements. There were good working relationships developed with health and social care professional to meet these needs. Suitable arrangements were made to safely assist people in taking their prescribed medicines.

People’s rights were protected and staff obtained people’s consent before providing care. The service had recorded people's capacity to consent to care but had not recorded their capacity to make other decisions.

We made a recommendation that the service seeks advice about how the service checks people’s capacity to make decisions and how they can support them to do this.

The registered provider (provider) had a procedure for receiving and managing complaints. However, we found that informal complaints and the actions taken were not recorded.

We made a recommendation about recording informal complaints and the actions taken about these.

The manager and provider demonstrated a good understanding of the importance of effective quality assurance systems in promoting the quality of the service. The manager promoted an open, inclusive culture and provided leadership to the staff team. Staff were proud to work for the organisation.