Archived: Cambridge City Council Care - Ditchburn Place

Cambridge City Council Care - Ditchburn Place is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people living in their own flats in a specialist 'extra care' housing scheme in the centre of Cambridge. 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 22 people were receiving the regulated activity personal care.

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

People were happy with the service and the staff that provided their care.

People felt safe because staff knew what they were doing, they had been trained, and supported people in the way people wanted.

Staff assessed and reduced people’s risks as much as possible. There were enough staff to support people with their care and support needs. The provider carried out key recruitment checks on potential new staff before they started work.

People received their medicines and staff knew how these should be given. Staff used protective equipment, such as gloves and aprons to prevent the spread of infection. Staff followed advice from health care professionals and made sure they asked people’s consent before providing care and 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 liked the staff that supported them. Staff were kind and caring, they involved people in their care and made sure people’s privacy was respected.

Staff kept care records up to date and included national guidance if relevant.

The service was well managed by a registered manager. The senior staff team were passionate about giving people a high-quality service.

People and their relatives were asked their views of the service and action was taken to change any areas that they were not happy with. The provider had systems in place to effectively monitor and bring about improvements in the service. Concerns were followed up to make sure action was taken to rectify the issues raised.

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 26/07/2017).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

At the last inspection on 6 May 2015 the service was rated as ‘Good’. At this inspection we found the service remained ‘Good’.

A registered manager was in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

Systems were in place to manage risks to people using the service and to keep them safe. This included assisting people safely with their mobility, personal care and medicines.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to safely assist and support people. The recruitment and selection procedure ensured that only suitable staff were employed to provide care and support to people using the service.

The registered manager and staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. People were supported to have choice and control over their lives as much as possible. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and procedures in the service supported this practice.

People’s needs were assessed, so that their care was planned and delivered in a consistent way. The management staff and care staff were knowledgeable about the people they supported and knew their care needs well. Staff offered people choices such choosing the meals they wished to eat. These choices were respected and actioned by staff.

People experienced a good quality of life because staff received training that gave them the right skills and knowledge to meet their needs. People were supported and assisted with their daily routines, shopping and accessing places of their choice in the community.

People received appropriate support to maintain a healthy diet and were able to choose meals and drinks they preferred. People were assisted to have access to a range of health care professionals, when they needed them.

Staff were clear about the values of the service in relation to providing people with compassionate care in a dignified and respectful manner. Staff knew what was expected of them and staff supported people in a respectful and dignified manner during our inspection.

There were processes in place to assess, monitor and improve the service. People had been consulted about how they wished their care to be delivered and their choices had been respected. People, their relatives and staff were provided with the opportunity to give their feedback about the quality of the service provided.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

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Care and support is provided to 36 people living in 'Extra Care Housing' situated in the Ditchburn Place housing complex. People that we spoke with were very pleased with the care and assistance they received from care staff and one person told us that: 'The carers are really good and always cheerful.' People told us that care staff provided them with care and support in a respectful and dignified way.

We saw that peoples' preferences were recorded in care plans regarding the way they wished their care to be provided and planned. Care and support was appropriately assessed with guidelines for staff about the care and support the person required.

We saw evidence that staff were trained and monitored regarding the administration of medicines. Staff were aware of their responsibilities when recording the administration of medicines that they had given or prompted people to take.

There were effective recruitment procedures in place which ensured that all appropriate checks had been made prior to staff starting work. There was an induction programme in place for new staff and mandatory training was provided to ensure they were competent to deliver care.

Quality assurance procedures were in place for monitoring the running of the service and people were able to raise any issues and concerns with the manager and staff team.

Staff that we spoke with said that they felt supported by the management team of the service. They also confirmed that they received ongoing training to ensure their continued safe practice.

There were effective quality assurance procedures to monitor and improve the services that were provided.