- Homecare service
Unite Highland Care
Report from 13 August 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 19 August to 13 September 2024. This service is registered to support autistic people and people with a learning disability. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ (RSRCRC) 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. The provider had failed to ensure they met the principles of RSRCRC. People had been harmed or were at risk of harm. People were not appropriately assessed, and staff did not have all of the information required. Risks were not well managed, and the service was poorly led. Lessons were not learned from incidents, and we were not assured the provider was open and transparent and shared all of the information we asked for during the assessment about incidents. The provider and staff had a poor understanding of assessment of people's capacity. Consent to care and treatment was not always obtained. Staff were not recruited safely, and people received calls that were late, early, short or overlapped. The provider conducted no audits on the service and did not maintain good oversight of the quality of care. We found 8 breaches of the legal regulations in relation to person-centred care, dignity and respect, safeguarding, safe care and treatment, staffing, consent, fit and proper persons employed and governance. This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded.
People's experience of this service
While some of the people and relatives we spoke with expressed that they were generally happy with their care, our assessment found significant concerns with the care people received. People had not been supported in line with RSRCRC guidance to enable and encourage them to be as independent as possible. People had not been empowered to make decisions about their care and support, including who they lived with and restrictions were imposed on them which were not the least restrictive. For example, CCTV surveillance had been installed in people's homes, the provider was unable to tell us why this was necessary. Principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 had not been implemented. Some relatives told us they had concerns with the care and support their loved one received but their concerns were not always listened to or acted on.