Future Home Care Limited Nottinghamshire North

Updated 17 August 2021

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.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by three inspectors and an Expert by Experiences (EXE). An EXE 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 provides care and support to people living in 10 ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live 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.

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 a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

Inspection activity started on 29 June 2021 and ended on 14 July 2021. We visited the office location on 2 July 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registration. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. Many of the people who used the service were unable to give us their views about the care provided. We used alternative methods to assess the care provided. This included observing staff interactions and speaking with relatives. We spoke with nine relatives and asked them about the quality of the care provided for their family members.

We visited six of the ten services which form this registered location. We spoke with 12 members of staff who worked at these services. This included service managers, team leaders and support staff. We also sent a questionnaire to all support staff and service managers and asked them for their views. 37 staff responded to this questionnaire.

We spoke with additional staff members when we visited the provider’s office. This included the regional quality manager, the registered manager and the area manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included 15 people’s support records, medication administration records and the daily notes recorded by support staff. We looked at the recruitment process, staff supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and training records.

After the inspection

We asked the registered manager to provide us with a variety of policies and procedures and additional information. All information was sent within the required timeframe. We used all this inform

Updated 17 August 2021

About the service

Future Home Care Limited Nottinghamshire North supports people with a learning and/or physical disability in 10 supported living 'services' across Nottinghamshire . At the time of the inspection there were 21 people using the service.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

Based on our review of key questions ‘safe, effective’ and ‘well-led’ the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

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

Improvements had been made to the way the provider managed the service. The registered manager now had less ‘services’ to oversee and with the support of service managers, this had seen an overall improvement in the quality of the care provided. Staff were clear about their roles and responsibilities and improved governance procedures had ensured the service was no longer in breach of regulations.

People were protected from the risk of abuse and neglect. Risks to people’s health and safety had been assessed, acted on and support plans amended when those risks changed. There were sufficient staff to support people safely, there was an on-going recruitment campaign to fill vacancies. People’s medicines were managed safely. The registered manager acted quickly to address concerns we had about some records relating to people’s medicines. People were protected from the risk of the spread of infection. The provider acted quickly to reduce the risk of accidents and incidents recurring.

People were supported to receive care; ensuring protected equality characteristics were not seen as barriers to good quality care. Varying methods of communication were used to ensure that people who were unable to verbalise their wishes were not discriminated against. Staff were well trained, and their practice was regularly assessed. People were supported to make healthy meal choices. Staff worked with other health and social care agencies to ensure people received timely care.

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.

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 requires improvement (published 5 August 2019) and there was one breach of the regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 11, 12 and 18 June 2019. A breach was found for the regulation ‘good governance’. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions, ‘Safe, Effective and Well-led. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Future Home Care Limited Nottinghamshire North 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.