Social Care Solutions Ltd (Herts & Bucks)

Social care Solutions Herts and Bucks is a supported living service providing support to people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, autism, Dementia and mental health needs who live within the supported living schemes.

Not everyone using Social care Solutions Herts and Bucks received the regulated activity of personal care; CQC only inspects the service being received by people who are assisted with 'personal care'; or help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating and drinking. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. The service was supporting 10 people with personal care at the time of inspection.

People's experience of using the service and what we found.

All staff had received appropriate infection prevention and control training, including how to put on and take off their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in line with guidance.

There was enough PPE available and staff were provided with individual hand sanitisers. Social distancing measures were in place.

People were supported to keep in contact with their families and friends using social media. Contact methods were assessed on peoples individual needs and abilities. People were supported to go out for exercise if they wished.

The registered manager told us there had been some challenges in accessing routine testing for COVID-19 initially, however, this had been addressed. A comprehensive infection prevention and control policy was in place and included a specific COVID-19 section.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 04 March 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in response to concerns received about infection control procedures. A decision was made for us to inspect and assess those risks.

CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on Warning Notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at the entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from these concerns.

Please see the safe section of this full report. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Social care Solutions Herts and Bucks on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.

This service provides care and support to people living in two ‘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.

People lived in their own individualised flats. At the time of the inspection Social care solutions were supporting 10 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People were empowered to achieve their hopes and dreams by staff that were kind and caring and enjoyed spending time in their company. Staff were passionate about enabling people to have maximum choice and control over all aspects of their lives.

• Staff encouraged people to take positive risks to promote their independence and quality of life. They actively engaged people and their relatives in reviewing care delivery to ensure it was meeting their needs.

• People’s privacy and dignity was respected, as were their choices. People’s diverse needs were embraced and staff supported people to express their individuality.

• People received safe care from staff that understood how to recognise and protect them from abuse. Staff had received training relevant to their role and were well supported by the management team.

• People’s relationships with family and friends were actively supported. People and relatives fed back they were happy with the care provided by social care solutions.

Staff felt well supported by the management team. Any complaints raised were effectively responded to and appropriate action was taken.

More information is in the detailed findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

This is the first comprehensive inspection under this registration. The service was registered on 22 December 2017.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up:

Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our reinspection schedule for those services rated Good.