We carried out a review of the data available to us about Catholic Care - Diocese of Leeds on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Catholic Care - Diocese of Leeds, you can give feedback on this service.
Catholic Care – Diocese of Leeds is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 36 adults with learning disabilities in their own homes and supported living settings at the time of the inspection.
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.
The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
There were enough staff to meet people’s needs, and staff had been recruited safely. People received their medicines as prescribed.
Staff received good induction, training and ongoing support to enable them to meet people’s needs effectively.
People were supported to access health and social care services, and to enjoy a balanced diet which took into account their choices and preferences.
People said staff were kind and caring, and staff knew how to protect and promote people’s independence, privacy and dignity.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Care plans contained highly detailed person-centred information on people’s needs, choices and preferences.
People were supported to maintain employment and access the community independently and lead fulfilling lives of their own choosing.
There were effective mechanisms of audit and oversight of the quality of the service. The provider engaged effectively with people and staff to ensure their opinions of the service were used to drive improvement.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update:
The last rating for this service was good (published 24 May 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.
Catholic Care Diocese of Leeds is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes and in supported living services. At the time of our inspection Catholic Care provided personal care in eight supported living environment services. At the time of the inspection they were providing a service to 34 people.
Rating at last inspection.
At the last inspection the service was rated as ‘Good.’
At this inspection we found the service remained ‘Good’ and had improved in ‘Safe’ section from ‘Requires improvement’ to ‘Good.’
Why the service is rated Good.
The provider had systems in place to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff understood how to keep people safe and knew the people they were supporting very well. People were protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider had appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines. Robust recruitment and selection procedures were in place to ensure suitable staff worked with people who used the service.
Care was personalised and people were well supported. People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned and delivered in line with their individual care needs. People received good support to make sure their nutritional and health needs were appropriately met.
The registered managers and provider had a range of audits which were effective in identifying and addressing any shortfalls in the service. People who used the service, relatives and professionals had been consulted about the way the service was managed and any improvements which could be made. Their responses had been acted upon which showed their views were valued.
Further information is in the detailed findings below
The inspection was announced because we needed to arrange visits to the individual supported living services. It is the fourth inspection that CQC has carried out since August 2013. We found a breach in regulation at the last three inspections because people were not always protected against the risks associated with unsafe management of medicine. In August 2013 the provider was found not to be appropriately managing medicines. In March 2014 the provider had improved some of the arrangements they had in place for managing medicines but they still needed to make further improvements. We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 11 and 20 August 2014 and found they still needed to make some further changes in the management of medicines.
After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the breach. We undertook a focused inspection on the 22 April 2015 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements.
This report only covers our findings in relation to this topic. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for ‘Catholic Care - Diocese of Leeds’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk’
Catholic Care - Diocese of Leeds is registered to provide personal care to people in their own home and in supported living services and at the time of our inspection provided personal care in five supported living environments services.
The service has two registered managers because the supported living services are spread over a large geographical area. Each registered manager was responsible for a number of supported living services. 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.
At this focused inspection on the 22 April 2015 we found that the provider had completed their plan and legal requirements had been met.
One person who used the service told us their medicines were managed safely and staff always administered these at the correct time. Staff also told us appropriate arrangement were in place for managing medicines.
We visited three supported living services and found that at each of these services people who used the service had support plans that provided guidance to ensure staff understood how to administer medicines to meet their individual needs. Everyone had a ‘my medicine, my choice, my record’ document which detailed the type of medicine, reason they were prescribed, the support required during administration and any special requirements.
Weekly checks had been carried out by the staff team and monthly audits had been carried out by the registered managers and the area manager. These helped ensure people received the correct medicines. Some minor inconsistencies were identified during the inspection visit and these were soon resolved. The management team said they would incorporate these checks into their audits to ensure similar inconsistencies were highlighted.
The inspection was announced and took place over two days on 11 and 20 August 2014. We announced the inspection because we needed to arrange visits to people who used the service. It is the third inspection that CQC has carried out since August 2013. In August 2013 the provider was found not to be appropriately managing medicines. In March 2014 the provider had improved some of the arrangements they had in place for managing medicines but they still needed to make further improvements. At this inspection we found they still needed to make some further changes in the management of medicines.
Catholic Care - Diocese of Leeds is registered to provide personal care to people in their own home and in supported living services and at the time of our inspection provided personal care in six supported living environments services. They provided a service to 29 people.
The service has two registered managers because the supported living services are spread over a large area. Each registered manager was responsible for a number of supported living services. 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.
At this inspection we found people were not always protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider did not have appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines.
The provider had systems in place to protect people from the risk of harm. Staff knew the people they were supporting well and understood their individual needs.
Safety checks were carried out around the service and any safety issues were reported and dealt with promptly. Safety awareness was discussed with people who used the service which helped keep them safe.
There were enough staff to keep people safe. Robust recruitment and selection procedures were in place to make sure suitable staff worked with people who used the service. Staff were skilled and experienced to meet people’s needs because they received appropriate training, supervision and appraisal.
At the time of the inspection the provider was going through a transition period because there were changes in some of the commissioning arrangements. Staff felt they had been supported through the process but were anxious because staffing arrangements were less flexible. The provider was closely monitoring the changes.
People were supported to choose meals that took account of their preferences and nutritional needs. They were supported to have sufficient to eat and drink and encouraged to maintain a balanced diet.
People we spoke with told us they were happy with service and the staff were caring. Staff ensured people’s privacy and dignity was maintained.
Care was personalised. People’s needs were assessed and care and support was planned and delivered in line with their individual care needs. Support plans contained information which explained how people’s needs should be met.
People were supported in promoting their independence and community involvement. People were encouraged to participate in household tasks; however, in one of the services we visited, opportunity to prepare and cook meals was limited because there was not enough staff to provide the required level of support.
People made decisions about their care and systems were in place to support people who did not have capacity to make some decisions.
Everyone we spoke with said they felt comfortable to raise concerns and felt they would be resolved. People were encouraged to share their views.
The provider had a system to monitor and assess the quality of service provision. The service had good management and leadership.
We found a breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.
People we spoke with said that staff encouraged and supported them to be independent and they had lots of opportunities to do different things and were encouraged to use the local community. One person said, 'We all do jobs in the house. I clean my bedroom and go shopping.'
Everyone we spoke with told us staff respected their privacy and dignity. One person said, 'The staff only come in my room when they are invited.'
We spoke to one representative of a person who used the service. They told us the person they visited was well looked after, and had really progressed since they had moved into the service and settled in extremely well.
Staff told us people received good care and their needs were appropriately met. They said people received support which was planned to make sure it met their individual circumstances, and effective systems were in place to make sure other agencies and professionals were involved when appropriate. Staff said they had received training to understand how to meet people's specialist needs and were well supported by the management team.
Two people showed us their care records. We looked at all the information with them and they confirmed the records accurately described their likes and dislikes and what activities they did during the day. For example, one person told us they liked to go shopping. This was clearly documented in their care plan, and the daily records showed the person had gone shopping on a regular basis.
We observed staff supporting people and it was clear staff knew people well. One staff member assisted a person to communicate with us; the staff member gave the person lots of encouragement and time to respond.
Staff told us good systems are in place to make sure people's rights, choices and independence are promoted. They discussed how they make sure people's privacy and dignity are respected. One member of staff said, 'At staff meetings we talk about support and how best to do it. It's the tenants' home and we only work there.' Another member of staff said, 'Catholic Care definitely promote good care and wouldn't accept anything less.'
We observed some staff practices that concerned us because people were not being given choice. The registered manager was also present and informed us she had noted the same concerns. Appropriate action was taken promptly by the registered manager and the care provider.
The management team discussed staff training and informed us that some training updates were overdue. They had identified the shortfalls through their monitoring processes and were taking action to address these.