Background to this inspection
Updated
14 February 2023
The inspection
We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.
Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.
Inspection team
This 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 and flats.
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 of notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 4 January 2023 and ended on 3 February 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. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. 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. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 29 March 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 2 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with 5 members of staff including; the registered manager, operations manager, deputy manager, team leader and a support worker. We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people's care records and 2 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision.
This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.
Updated
14 February 2023
About the service
SENSE Community Services West Yorkshire is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 2 people, this included people living with sensory impairments and people living with a learning disability.
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 people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
Right Support:
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.
People’s risk assessments were comprehensive, up to date and reflected people’s individual needs and risks. This meant staff could support people safely.
Staff actively supported people to choose what activities they wanted to take part in and the social aspects of their life that were important to them. Staff understood people’s preferred communication styles, to ensure people could express choices about their day to day life.
The service promoted continuity of care for people and had established a process for matching staff with people based on their likes, dislikes and aspirations. Staff knew the people they supported exceptionally well and had built positive, trusting relationships.
Right Care:
Care records described the activities people liked to do and included details of people's individual preferences for how their care should be delivered. This meant people received person centred care, from a staff team who knew people well.
Staff provided care and support in a person-centred manner that respected people's privacy and dignity and promoted their independence.
The service had a process in place for making referrals to other agencies, when people required support with their health needs. When professional advice was given, staff ensure this advice was followed.
Right Culture:
The service promoted a positive, open and person-centred culture, where people were at the centre of the decision making around their care and support.
The service had a comprehensive induction and training programme in place for staff, which was monitored by management. Staff completed specific training modules, to ensure they were able to meet the needs of the people they were supporting. Staff received ongoing support within their role and found regular supervisions with management beneficial.
Systems and processes were in place to measure the quality and performance of the service, this included a comprehensive range of audits and a service improvement plan. We saw actions were identified and completed in a timely manner.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 17 March 2021 and this is the first inspection.
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.
This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.