About the service Two Fifty Four Ltd T/A Visiting Angels provides personal care and support 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. The service was supporting 14 people at the time of our inspection, 10 of whom received personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
At the time of the inspection, the location did not care for or support anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.
People received a reliable service from staff who knew how to provide their care in a safe way. Risk assessments had been carried out to identify and mitigate any risks involved in people’s care. Medicines were managed safely. Staff helped keep people’s homes clean and wore personal protective equipment (PPE) when they carried out their visits.
Staff understood their responsibilities in protecting people from abuse and knew how to report any concerns they had. The provider’s recruitment procedures helped ensure only suitable staff were employed.
Staff received an induction when they joined the agency and had access to ongoing training. The agency supported staff through supervision and opportunities to work towards relevant qualifications. Staff felt valued for the work they did and told us good care was recognised and rewarded.
People’s needs were assessed before they began to receive care. People’s preferences about their care were listened to and incorporated into their care plans. Care plans were reviewed regularly to take account of any changes in people’s needs.
Staff monitored people’s health effectively and responded promptly if people became unwell. Staff worked well with other professionals involved in people’s care to ensure they received the support they needed.
People received their care from consistent staff who knew their preferences about their care and respected their choices. Staff treated people with respect and maintained their dignity when providing care. People were supported to be as independent as possible.
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.
People receiving care and their relatives knew how to complain and were confident any concerns they raised would receive an appropriate response. Any complaints received had been managed in line with the agency’s complaints procedure.
People had opportunities to give feedback about their care and their views were listened to. Relatives said the agency communicated well with them and kept them informed about their family members’ health and wellbeing.
The agency’s quality monitoring systems enabled the office/management team to maintain an effective oversight of the service. These included regular audits and spot checks to observe the care people received.
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 5 July 2021 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.