14 June 2023
During a routine inspection
Heath Care Services is a supported living service. The service supports people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and autistic people. The service supports up to 31 people living in 9 different supported living premises.
The support people receive can include personal care. 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 our inspection, 10 people received support with personal care.
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. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We found improvements had been made in the service following our last inspection.
Right support:
Systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. Risks related to people’s care and environment were assessed so staff could support them safely. People’s medicines were managed safely. Processes to assess people’s needs to determine if the service could support them were in place. The provider recruited staff safely and checked they were suitable to work with people. Systems were in place to prevent and control infections. Lessons were learned following accidents and incidents in the service.
Right care:
People received care and support that was person centred. Staff were trained to carry out their roles and received support with their development. People were supported to attended healthcare appointments to help maintain their health. They were supported with their food and drink preferences to keep a balanced diet. 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.
Right culture:
People’s dignity, privacy and human rights were respected. There was an equality and diversity policy in place. People’s needs in relation to their religion, culture and sexuality were respected. People had control of how their care and support was arranged. People were supported to integrate into the local community and be as independent as possible. They were supported to achieve positive outcomes. The attitudes of staff and managers enabled people to be as independent as possible. People pursued their interests and were supported to avoid social isolation. For example, we saw people go out to a day centre or enjoy the sunny weather outside. Systems were in place to manage complaints. People’s communication needs were met. Feedback was sought from people and relatives to help make continuous improvements to the service.
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 the service was Requires Improvement, (published 6 June 2022) and there were breaches of regulations. We issued requirement notices to the provider for breaches of regulation 9 (Person-centred care) and regulation 17 (Good governance).
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Heath Care Services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we inspected
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.