8 November 2018
During a routine inspection
Northwich Network is a domiciliary care service run by VIVO Care Choices Limited, a company managed by Cheshire West and Chester Council. The service is registered to provide personal care to adults within their own homes. The service offers support to older people and people with learning disabilities, sensory impairments and physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection the service was providing support to 28 people and employed 49 staff.
At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the service remained good. We found no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.
The service had systems in place to protect people from abuse.
People’s risk assessments in their care plans were managed well and covered all relevant aspects of their lives.
Staff were safely recruited at the service ensuring that only staff suitable to work with vulnerable people were employed.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Most staff were up-to-date with their training. Some staff were overdue refresher training in some areas but we saw that they were scheduled to attend the next available training sessions.
People were supported to plan, buy and prepare the food and drink that they wanted.
We observed that staff had well-established and positive relationships with the people they supported.
The care plans we reviewed were person-centred and gave staff the information that they needed to safely and effectively meet people’s needs.
People were supported to take part in a variety of activities that were important to them.
There was a positive and caring culture amongst all of the staff we spoke with during our inspection.
The service used a range of methods to gather feedback from the people and their relatives about the quality of care and support being provided.
The service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. This means that the people supported by the service who live with learning disabilities and autism could live as ordinary a life as any citizen.
Further information is in the detailed findings below.