Archived: Creative Support - Northampton Services

Updated 29 November 2017

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.

We carried out our announced inspection visit of the service on 3O October 2017 and made phone calls to people using the service on 03 November 2017. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure staff would be available for us to talk to, and that records would be accessible.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

We checked the information we held about the service and the provider and saw that no recent concerns had been raised. We had received information about events that the provider was required to inform us about by law, for example, where safeguarding referrals had been made to the local authority to investigate and for incidents of serious injuries or events that stop the service. We also contacted the local authority that commissions the service to obtain their views about the provision of care to people using the service.

We spoke with five people who used the service. We also spoke with the manager, the senior quality practitioner and four care staff.

We looked at four people’s care records to see if they were reflective of their current needs. We also reviewed five staff recruitment and training files and four weeks of staff duty rotas. We looked at further records relating to the management of the service, including quality audits and service user feedback, in order to ensure that robust quality monitoring systems were in place.

Updated 29 November 2017

This first comprehensive inspection took place on 30 October and 03 November 2017 and was announced.

Delos Pyramid Northampton (Creative Support) is a charitable organisation who provides care support for people with learning disabilities, mental health needs and complex needs in their own homes. At the time of our visit there were 13 people using the service.

The service did not have a registered manager. However the area manager was in the process of registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and would act as manager until a new manager had been recruited. 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.

People felt safe with the staff that supported them in their own home. Staff understood the need to protect people from harm and knew what action they should take if they had any concerns. People had risk assessments in place to enable them to be as independent as they could be whilst being kept safe. There was sufficient staff, with the correct skill mix, to support people with their support needs. Effective recruitment processes were in place and followed by the service to ensure all staff employed at the service were suitable for the role.

Medicines were managed safely. The processes in place ensured that the administration and handling of medicines was suitable for the people who used the service.

Staff received a comprehensive induction programme and a variety of training to ensure they were able to provide care based on current practice when supporting people. They were supported by the manager and had regular one to one time for supervisions and annual appraisals. Staff gained consent before supporting people with their care. People were supported to make decisions about all aspects of their life; this was underpinned by the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were able to make choices about the food and drink they had, and staff gave support when required. People were supported to access a variety of health professionals when required and staff were available to support people to attend health appointments. .

Staff provided care and support in a compassionate and meaningful way. They knew the people who used the service well and this ensured that people felt they mattered. People were given choices about their day to day routines and about how they wanted their care to be delivered. People's privacy and dignity was maintained at all times.

People's needs were assessed before they were provided with a care package and the care plans reflected how their needs were to be met. Records showed that people and their relatives were involved in the assessment process and the on-going reviews of their care. There was a complaints procedure in place to enable people to raise complaints about the service.

People and staff were positive about the management of the service and staff told us they felt well supported. A variety of quality audits were carried out, which were used to drive improvement and allowed people and staff to express their views about the delivery of care.

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