Archived: Voyage (DCA) Portsmouth

Updated 9 January 2019

The inspection:

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:

Two inspectors’ and an Expert by Experience conducted the inspection. 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 17 supported living services and to 12 people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to younger and older adults.

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 5 days’ notice of the inspection visit to enable the provider time to work with people and gain their consent for us to contact them, and for those who chose to, to come and talk to us. We visited the office location on 20 November 2018 to see the manager, office and care staff, people who used the service and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before our inspection we took into account information we had received about and from the provider, including the provider information return (PIR) and incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse, serious injuries and events which may affect the running of the service.

During the inspection, we spoke with nine people using the service and eight relatives to ask about their experience of care. We spoke with nine members of staff, the registered manager and a regional manager for the company. We also requested feedback from six external health and social care professional. Everyone we spoke to described the service positively and had no concerns.

We looked at the care records for eight people; medicines records for everyone living at three supported living services; three staff recruitment records; supervision and training records for 25 staff; and records relating to the quality and management of the service. Details are in the Key Questions below.

Updated 9 January 2019

What life is like for people using this service:

• People received compassionate, personalised support which met their needs from kind and caring staff. People’s rights to make their own decisions was respected.

• Staff had a good knowledge of people and understood what was important to them.

• Staff were skilled and received training to ensure they could meet people’s needs.

• Staff ensured people had support that met their needs and choices whilst minimising any risks associated with these.

• People’s dignity and privacy were respected and their independence was promoted.

• The registered manager was open and committed to making improvements.

• The service met characteristics of Good in Safe, Effective, Caring and responsive.

• The service has been rated requires improvement in well led because although quality assurance processes were in place, these needed some further development to ensure they were operated effectively.

• More information in Detailed Findings below

Rating at last inspection: This was the service’s first inspection since it became registered.

About the service: This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in 17 supported living services and to 12 people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to younger and older adults. At the time of the inspection they were providing support to approximately 50 people.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the time since this service had been registered and started operating.

Follow up: We will monitor all information received about the service to understand any risks that may arise and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.