Stevenage

Updated 7 July 2023

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.

Inspection team

The inspection was undertaken by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered manager

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

This inspection was announced. 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 registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 13 June 2023 and ended on 26 June 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registration. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was 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

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

We spoke with 1 person who used the service and reviewed the feedback from 2 other people. We received feedback from 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager and received feedback from 6 staff members. We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 people’s care records and medication records. We looked at 1 staff file in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed. We reviewed reports from other professionals.

Updated 7 July 2023

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 or support for 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.

About the service

Stevenage, also known as Pine Health Care Services, is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to 6 people at the time of the inspection.

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.

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

Right Support:

People were involved in planning their care. 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. Staff had good awareness on how to promote dignity and independence and treat people with respect.

Staff had the appropriate training and skills for their role. Additional training was planned to help ensure they had the correct skills for to support people with a learning disability for future planning. People felt safe and staff knew how to recognise and report any concerns or abuse. Accidents and incidents were monitored and there was a system for sharing learning from any events or incidents.

Right Care:

People had individual risk assessments in place and the registered manager observed staff and checked with people to ensure they were being used appropriately and safely.

There was a robust recruitment process to help ensure people were supported by staff who were suitable to work in a care role.

People were supported staff who were kind and knew them well.

Right Culture:

The registered manager had quality assurance systems in place to give themselves good oversight of the service provided. The registered manager carried out checks to satisfy themselves the service was performing safely and in line with regulation. We received positive feedback from people, their relatives and staff about the registered manager.

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 23/07/2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.