Archived: U in Mind Care

Updated 17 February 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 25 January 2022 and ended on 1 February 2022.

What we did before inspection.

We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We reviewed our systems and information we held about the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service, two relatives and received electronic feedback from two relatives about their experience of U in Mind Care.

We spoke with the registered manager, and three members of staff. We also spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We received electronic feedback from three members of staff and the local authority commissioning team who work with the service.

We reviewed a range of records which included risk assessments, medication records for three people and two staff records. We also viewed some of the provider’s policies and procedures, management monitoring and oversight records.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 17 February 2022

About the service

U in Mind Care is a domiciliary care agency providing a service to people living in their own homes. 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 the inspection there were five people using the service who received personal care. One of those people had a learning disability and received 24- hour live in care and support. We found the service was meeting this person’s needs but have signposted the provider to review their service provision alongside the requirements of ‘Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture’.

‘Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture’ is our regulatory approach alongside recommended best practice to ensure providers meet the needs of Autistic people and people with a learning disability. This means providers supporting people to have the same rights to live an ordinary life as any other person and free to make choices about their own care where they can.

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

Feedback about the care and support U in Mind Care provided to people was complimentary. People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the leadership and management of the service.

People were supported by a staff team who were safely recruited, trained and knew how to protect them from potential harm.

Staffing and recruitment was a challenge, particularly considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this staff and the management team worked hard to ensure that people received their care visits as planned and at the time of the inspection there had been no reported missed visits.

People received their care visits at the times they expected, for the length of time agreed and from staff they knew.

Infection prevention and control, medicines and risks associated with people’s care was well managed, and in line with legislative requirements and recognised best practice guidelines.

People's care and support records were detailed and person centred. These were assessed regularly and support was planned to ensure people’s needs were met.

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.

Systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were in place. This supported the management team to continually develop U in Mind Care.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 22 June 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This service had not previously been inspected and we wanted to check that people were receiving safe care and support.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service using our monitoring system and will inspect when this is indicated.