Archived: Cheshire & Greater Manchester Regional Office

Cheshire & Greater Manchester Regional Office is registered as a domiciliary care agency (DCA) and is part of Community Integrated Care. Community Integrated Care is an organisation who provides support and personal care to young adults and children living in the community in supported living, extra care facilities and in people’s own homes. The service currently provides support covering a large geographical area covering: Halton; Wigan; Knowsley; Cheshire/Wirral and St Helens. CIC is a registered charity operating on a not for profit basis, established since 1988 and also a company limited by guarantee.

The main office is located within a residential area of Widnes and there is ample parking within their own car park for visitors.

A registered manager was in post. 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.

We last visited this service on 20 and 25 November 2013. At that time the registered provider met all the regulations we used to assess the quality of support.

People told us that they felt safe with the staff team and had no concerns about the support they received. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of protecting vulnerable adults from abuse and had received training in this and whistleblowing.

Recruitment procedures were robust with all required checks made before new staff supported people.

Risk assessments were in place and these related to all aspects of people’s lives including risks posed by the environment and through the support provided. All risk assessments were up to date. Emergency plans were in place outlining how each person would be assisted in the even to the need to evacuate or a wider environmental emergency.

Medicines were managed safely. People told us that they received their medicines when they needed them and that they were never missed. All staff had received medication training and had their competency to do this checked.

Staffing levels were maintained. Systems were in place to ensure that the right number of staff were available to meet people’s needs.

A structured induction process was in place. This involved training new staff and ensuring that they were competent to support people alone.

People told us that the staff team knew what their needs were. Staff received training appropriate to the needs of people. Staff received supervision and annual appraisals to ensure good practice.

While the nature of the service did not deal directly with deprivation of liberty safeguards, staff had received training in this and demonstrated an understanding on how this affected people in their daily lives.

The nutritional needs of people were met. This included an indication of people’s likes and dislikes as well as the level of support they required in preparing meals. Where more specialist nutrition was necessary, staff had received training in this.

People felt cared about by the staff team and stated that they were free to make decisions about their daily lives. Staff were able to outline the main priorities of their work and these included respecting people’s homes, promoting their privacy and supporting them as much as possible.

People who used the service were given information about the support they wold be given.

People had access to their care plans. All care plans were accompanied by an assessment of need which gave a very detailed account of each person’s life, wishes and routines. All care plans were reviewed monthly with a wider annual review each year. All care plans had daily records which were detailed.

People knew how to make a complaint and a complaints procedure was in place ensuring a robust system of reporting concerns.

The registered provider demonstrated an accountable and transparent approach to managing the service. Staff felt supported and were given the opportunity to influence the running of the service.

People who used the service and their relatives were invited to comment on the support they received and comments were positive.

The registered provider had a robust auditing system in place to ensure that quality of support was maintained.

'They are great I am happy with the package'; 'The staff are brilliant they are well trained' and 'I've no problems whatsoever it's the best thing I ever did coming to live here.'

The support records we looked at had been reviewed regularly to make sure the information reflected each person's needs and requests. This meant the staff had the information they needed to provide the care and support required in accordance with individual needs and choices.

Staff were positive about working for the service. They were well supported with their training to be able to meet people's individual needs.

The service had developed some of their documentation into pictures to help support people in accessing any relevant information necessary to them including their complaints procedure.