Chilmington at Home

Updated 3 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 and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in 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 the service 48 hours’ 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 in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

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 reviewed information we held about the service including feedback from professionals. We reviewed notifications we had received from the service regarding incidents and/or accidents. We looked at online reviews and the services own website. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 5 staff including the registered manager, deputy manager, area manager and care staff. We spoke with 2 people who use the service and 1 relative. We reviewed a range of records. This included 3 people’s care plans, 1 medicine administration record, 2 people’s care records and 2 medicine records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 3 August 2023

About the service

Chilmington at Home is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people. The service provides support to autistic people, people with a learning disability or people with a physical disability. At the time of our inspection there were 3 people 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 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 had mental capacity assessments in place for some individualised decisions, however there was not always evidence of these having taken place prior to the inspection in relation to potential restrictive practices such as bed rails. During the inspection, this was rectified by the registered manager and deputy manager. 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. The service supported people to have control and independence over their own lives. People were supported by staff to pursue their interests and work towards their aspirations and goals. Staff supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing.

Right Care:

The services mandatory training was not in line with best practice. Some staff had not received moving and handling training since July 2021. The area manager ensured staff who had outstanding training had a date arranged for the training after the inspection had taken place. The service had not yet implemented Oliver McGowan training (training to ensure staff have the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability) to all staff. The area manager advised this will be implemented in the coming months. People received kind and compassionate care from staff and this was observed during the inspection. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to people’s individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.

Right Culture:

Staff turnover was very low, which supported people to receive consistent care from staff who knew them well. Staff placed people’s wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. People and those important to them, were involved in planning their care. Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person and other professionals as appropriate. People’s quality of life was enhanced by the service’s culture of improvement and inclusivity. Staff ensured risks of a closed culture were minimised so that people received support based on transparency, respect and inclusivity.

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 3 May 2018).

Why we inspected

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

Recommendations

We recommended the provider reviews their mandatory training in order to ensure it is in line with best practice.

Follow up

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