Archived: Handley Care Services

Updated 12 June 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

This inspection was carried out by 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:

Handley Care Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own flats or house in the community. The service provides care and support to six people sharing accommodation in a supported living house and three people living in their own flats or houses in the community. 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.

Handley Care Services supports people with a learning disability and autism, physical disabilities and sensory impairment. The service had a manager registered with the CQC. However, the registered manager was no longer in post and a manager had been appointed who intended to apply for registration with CQC. The registered manager 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 visit because it is small and we needed to be sure that they would be in on the day of our inspection visit.

What we did:

Inspection site visit activity started on 7 May 2019 and ended on 8 May 2019. We visited the office location on 7 May 2019 to see the manager, people and staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We undertook telephone calls to relatives and staff on 8 May 2019.

When planning our inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service, which included any notifications that the provider is required to send us by law. The provider had not been sent a Provider Information Return. 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 gave the manager the opportunity to discuss this during our inspection.

During the inspection we met with two people to gain their views about the service and spoke with two relatives by telephone. We also spoke with the manager, the deputy manager and three care staff. We reviewed care plans and records for three people and looked at records in relation to the management of the service. These included three staff recruitment and training records, key policies and procedures and quality assurance systems and processes.

Updated 12 June 2019

About the service:

Handley Care Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community and specialist housing. It provides a service to people living with a physical disability, learning disability, autism or sensory impairment.

This service provides care and support to people living in one 'supported living' setting, so that they can live in their own home 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. At the time of our inspection there were nine people using the service.

People's experience of using this service:

People's safety was promoted; staff understood how to protect people from the risk of harm and understood potential signs of abuse. People were involved in assessments of potential risks to their safety and in identifying measures to keep them safe. Care plans provided clear guidance for staff to follow.

People were supported by a consistent team of staff who were safely recruited. People received their medicines as prescribed and were protected from the risk of infections through staff working practices.

Staff received training, supervision and support so they could effectively perform their roles and meet people needs. People were provided with care and support that ensured they had good nutrition and hydration and access to healthcare that maintained their health and wellbeing.

People were supported to have choice and control over their care and support in the least restrictive way possible.

People and those important to them were involved in the planning and development of their care and support. Staff were skilled at enabling people to communicate their choices and decisions. Staff were described as very caring, understanding, patient and supportive. Staff knew people well and used this knowledge to provide personalised care. Staff respected and promoted people's rights, including their right to be treated with respect and dignity.

People were supported to develop new skills, maintain relationships and engage in meaningful activities and interests. Staff forged links with the local services to enable people to be a part of their local community. People and relatives knew how to raise a concern or complaint. The provider's complaints policy provided information about how these would be managed and responded to.

The manager was actively involved in the day to day provision of care and support and as such had a good oversight into the quality of the service provided. They intended to develop systems to formalise the recording of outcomes of checks and audits as part of overall quality assurance.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the management and leadership of the service, as being open and transparent. The manager listened to feedback and took action to make improvements to the service. Staff were encouraged to share ideas about how to develop the service. The service worked in partnership with external agencies to ensure people achieved the best possible outcomes from their care and support.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection:

At our last inspection the service was rated as Good. Our last report was published on 18 June 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.