Advantage Healthcare - North West & Yorkshire

Updated 31 August 2023

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats, and specialist housing.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 10 August 2023 and ended on 18 August 2023. We visited the location’s office on 10 August 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 10 members of staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, head of nursing, chief nurse, nurses, care workers and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at records in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

Updated 31 August 2023

About the service

Advantage Healthcare - North West & Yorkshire is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to adults and children with complex needs. At the time of this inspection 41 people were using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support:

Staff knew and understood people extremely well. People received care and support from a consistent team of dedicated staff. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Care plans were detailed and person-centred. The care plans provided guidance for staff about how best to support people's needs and preferences, and the outcomes to be achieved. People and relatives were involved in the care planning and regular reviews.

Right Care:

People received kind and compassionate care. People who provided feedback to us praised the service. People received person-centred care of a high standard. Staff were caring, kind and understanding and treated people with respect and dignity. Staff understood and responded to people’s individual needs. People were protected from the risks of abuse and staff were trusted to keep them safe. Staff had received training in how to safeguard people. Medicines were managed safely. People's care needs were risk assessed and care plans provided staff with the information they needed to manage the identified risk.

Right Culture:

Staff placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. The culture of the service was friendly, open and transparent. People, relatives and staff were listened to, and their feedback used to inform improvement and development. Auditing systems were in place that enabled the registered managers to have effective oversight of the service and identify and respond to any improvements needed. People told us they felt safe and knew how to raise concerns.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 13 December 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.