Cheviots Childrens Centre

Updated 25 February 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to children living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

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.

Inspection activity started and ended on 23 January 2020 and included visiting the office location.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We also spoke with one parent of the child who received care and support about their experience. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke the registered manager, the short breaks and family support manager and the short breaks and family support practitioner. We reviewed a range of records. This included one child’s care records and two 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.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We also spoke with two home sitters.

Updated 25 February 2020

About the service

Cheviots Children's Centre provides a respite, short break and home sitting service for parents so that they can take a break from their caring role. The service provides personal care and support to children with learning disabilities including autism and complex physical disabilities within their own home. At the time of the inspection there was only one child receiving a service.

The home sitting service forms part of a combination of services to support and enable children and their families to lead ordinary family lives. 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

The relative that we spoke with was complimentary of the care and support that their child received. We were told of how they received support from two regular home sitters who knew their child very well and supported them safely and with dignity and respect.

Risk associated with each child's health and care needs had been identified and assessed with clear guidance available to staff on how these risks were to be managed to ensure their safety.

Currently the service was not supporting any children with medicine administration. However, systems were in place to ensure the safe management and administration of medicines where required.

Safe recruitment processes followed, enabled the service to recruit staff that had been assessed as safe to work with vulnerable children.

Home sitters were trained and skilled to safely and effectively support children with their needs. Home sitters received appropriate support to effectively deliver care.

Children were supported with eating and drinking where this was an identified and assessed need.

The service currently supported children and young people under the age of 18. At the time of the inspection the service was not supporting any child over the age of 16, therefore, the legal requirement to consider mental capacity and ability to make decisions was not required. However, care records had been signed by parents confirming that they had been involved in the planning of care and consented to the care and support that their child received.

Care plans were person centred and detailed. Children's support needs, likes and dislikes, the things they liked to do and how care and support was to be delivered was clearly documented within their care plan.

Parents knew who to speak with if they had a complaint and told us that their complaint would be addressed immediately.

Processes were in place to monitor and oversee the quality of care delivery. Where issues were identified these were addressed and discussed with the team to promote further learning and improvements.

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 4 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for 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.