Archived: Prospects Domiciliary Care Service

Updated 16 August 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 4 July 2016 and was announced. We told the provider one day before our visit that we would be coming to ensure that the people we needed to talk to would be available. One inspector carried out the inspection.

Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the PIR and other information we held about the service; this included incidents they had notified us about. Additionally, we contacted various health and social care professionals who had contact with the service. We also looked at information about incidents the provider had notified us of and requested information from the local authority.

We spoke with one of the people who received support to find out about their viewpoint of the service and contacted the relatives. We also observed staff interactions with people to assess the quality of service the people received. We spoke with three staff, in addition to the manager and an area manager of the organisation.

We sampled specific care records for both people, with their permission. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including staffing rotas, three staff recruitment, appraisal and training records, accident and incident records, premises maintenance records, staff meeting minutes and medicine administration records.

Updated 16 August 2016

This unannounced inspection took place on 4 July 2016. Prospects Domiciliary Care Service is a small agency that provides personal care and support for people with a learning disability who live in their own homes. The service is run by Prospects for People with Learning Disabilities, a Christian based organisation, and predominantly provides support for individuals who are practising their faith. At the time of the inspection two people were receiving support from Prospects Domiciliary Care Service. We told the provider one day before our visit that we would be coming to ensure the people we needed to talk to would be available.

Prospects Domiciliary Care Service has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

The domiciliary care service is managed by a registered manager who also manages a care home for people with learning disabilities run by Prospects for People with Learning Disabilities. Staff from the home also work for the domiciliary care service and all staff are subject to the same recruitment, training and supervision as those employed within the home. The service also operated under the same policies and procedures as the care home. Both of the people who used the agency were familiar with the care home and also the day services programme that operated at the same site as the care home but from a different building. This meant they knew the staff that supported them and staff had a good knowledge of each person and their needs.

People were safeguarded because staff had been trained in the protection of adults and knew what they needed to do in the event of a safeguarding concern. Medicines were managed safely to make sure people received their medicines as prescribed.

There were sufficient staff available to meet people’s needs. The registered manager was aware of each person's routines and needs and planned the rota to meet this. In addition, there was an on-call telephone service that people could use to speak to staff if they needed assistance.

Staff told us they felt supported and could gain informal advice or guidance whenever they needed to. Staff were trained to make sure they were able to meet the individual needs of people living at the home.

Where people were able to make their own decisions staff sought their consent before they supported them. Where people may have lacked capacity to make a specific decision staff were acting in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People were treated with kindness and compassion in their day-to-day care. Staff knew the people they were caring for and supporting, including their preferences and personal histories.

People had support plans that reflected their personal history, individual preferences and interests. Staff had read people’s support plans and used the information to make sure they helped the individual in the way they wanted or needed to be supported.

People had a keyworker. A keyworker is a named member of staff that was responsible for ensuring people’s care needs were met. This included supporting them with activities and spending time with them.

The service had a positive, open, person-centred culture. Staff said they felt able to raise any concerns with the registered manager and were confident that these would be addressed. They were also aware of how to raise concerns and whistleblow with external agencies such as the Care Quality Commission.

The manager regularly worked alongside staff, which gave them an insight into how their staff cared for and supported people. It also enabled them to share good practice and assess staff's abilities.

Quality assurance systems, developed by the provider, had been implemented within the service. This meant that there were satisfactory arrangements in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided.