Southern Housing DCA

Updated 18 September 2019

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. 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.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one 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 their own houses and flats.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because 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

Before the inspection we reviewed information, we had received about the service, including previous inspection reports and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. We also considered information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we gathered information from

12 people who used the service. We also spoke with the operations manager, the registered manager, the deputy manager, and four members of care staff. We viewed six people’s care records and three staff files in relation to recruitment. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, records of accidents, incidents and complaints, audits and quality assurance reports.

After the inspection

We received feedback from four health and social care professionals. We reviewed training data, quality assurance records and additional supporting information provided by the management team.

Updated 18 September 2019

About the service

Southern Housing Group DCA is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes including a group of people living in an extra care housing facility. 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. At the time of this inspection the service was providing personal care to 42 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were very positive about all aspects of the service. All the people we spoke with praised the staff for their caring, kind and respectful attitudes and confirmed their preferences were listened to and respected.

The service was exceptionally well run. The provider, management team and staff shared the visions and values of the service and these were embedded within service delivery. There were robust systems to assess the quality of the service provided.

The service was committed to ensuring that there was equality and inclusion across the workforce and for the people who used the service. People were fully included in everything in relation to the service and encouraged and supported to be actively involved in the development of the service. The service was driven to help prevent social isolation for people living in the community and strong links with external organisations had been developed to benefit people.

The provider and registered manager were fully committed to ensuring the service continually improved and was proactive in implementing change. There was a very strong emphasis on continuous improvement and lessons learnt from incidents and people's feedback were used to improve the service further.

Staff worked in partnership with external health and social care professionals to ensure they supported people well. Professionals all spoke highly of the service and the care provided.

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.

Staff received effective training that gave them the skills to support people with their needs. Staff were clear about their safeguarding responsibilities and knew how to recognise and report potential abuse. Staff carried out their roles and responsibilities effectively. They had an excellent understanding of managing risks and supported people to reach their full potential through consistent, personalised care.

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 February 2017)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

There is no required follow up to this inspection. We will continue to monitor all information received about the service to understand any risks that may arise and to ensure the next inspection is scheduled accordingly.