Heath Care Services

Updated 20 July 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 provides care and support to people living in 9 '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.

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 the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the nominated individual or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 14 June 2023 and ended on 16 June 2023. We visited the office location on 14 June 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we already held about the service. This included feedback from social care professionals, the last inspection report and notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, the nominated individual, the deputy manager and 2 support workers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We visited 2 supported living properties and met with 5 people who used the service. We carried out the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not speak with us.

We reviewed documents and records that related to people’s care and the management of the service. We reviewed 4 people’s care plans, which included risk assessments and 4 staff recruitment files. We looked at other documents such as those for medicine management, training and infection control.

After the inspection we continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with 2 relatives and 4 support workers by telephone.

Updated 20 July 2023

About the service

Heath Care Services is a supported living service. The service supports people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and autistic people. The service supports up to 31 people living in 9 different supported living premises.

The support people receive can include personal care. 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.

At the time of our inspection, 10 people received support with personal care.

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.

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

We found improvements had been made in the service following our last inspection.

Right support:

Systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. Risks related to people’s care and environment were assessed so staff could support them safely. People’s medicines were managed safely. Processes to assess people’s needs to determine if the service could support them were in place. The provider recruited staff safely and checked they were suitable to work with people. Systems were in place to prevent and control infections. Lessons were learned following accidents and incidents in the service.

Right care:

People received care and support that was person centred. Staff were trained to carry out their roles and received support with their development. People were supported to attended healthcare appointments to help maintain their health. They were supported with their food and drink preferences to keep a balanced diet. 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.

Right culture:

People’s dignity, privacy and human rights were respected. There was an equality and diversity policy in place. People’s needs in relation to their religion, culture and sexuality were respected. People had control of how their care and support was arranged. People were supported to integrate into the local community and be as independent as possible. They were supported to achieve positive outcomes. The attitudes of staff and managers enabled people to be as independent as possible. People pursued their interests and were supported to avoid social isolation. For example, we saw people go out to a day centre or enjoy the sunny weather outside. Systems were in place to manage complaints. People’s communication needs were met. Feedback was sought from people and relatives to help make continuous improvements to the service.

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 the service was Requires Improvement, (published 6 June 2022) and there were breaches of regulations. We issued requirement notices to the provider for breaches of regulation 9 (Person-centred care) and regulation 17 (Good governance).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Heath Care Services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Follow up

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