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. About the service
Dimensions Hertfordshire Domiciliary Care Office is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 24 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
Care plans focused on people's strengths and started to build on people’s goals and long term aspirations.
Staff supported people with their medicines in a way that promoted their independence and achieved the best possible health outcome, however there was further development needed to the, 'as and when required' medicine protocols.
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 supported people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing and enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community.
Right Care
The provider did not ensure staff met the government guidance when adhering to safe infection prevention control practices.
The provider made sure that there was enough skilled staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe, as well as ensuring their met best practice guidance. Staff had training specifically for learning disability and autism and this was something that the provider planned to continue developing.
Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.
Right Culture
Professionals spoke highly about the responsiveness of staff, however they felt that the communication with the management needed to improve.
Staff felt supported and the management team were always available. The registered manager had a good understanding of their responsibilities towards people they supported and had passion in delivering person-centred care.
The provider had quality assurance systems in place, which ensured they were capturing the good practices as well as where improvements were needed.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
This service was registered with us on 01 September 2021 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was the first inspection since the location was registered.
We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.