Archived: The Lady Verdin Trust - Daily Options

Updated 5 June 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This comprehensive inspection was announced and took place on 28 March 2018. A second announced visit took place on 4 May 2018. Additional telephone calls were made to staff and relatives of people using the service on 29 March 2018 and visits to people using the service and staff on 6 and 9 April 2018. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the initial inspection visit and pre-arranged times for telephone calls and visits. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Prior to the inspection we checked the information we held about Lady Verdin Trust Daily Options. We looked at any notifications received and reviewed any other information we held. We also contacted Cheshire East Council about their knowledge of the service.

During the inspection we visited two people who were receiving regulated services from the provider, spoke with two relatives, the registered manager, area manager, service manager and 5 support staff. We looked at records relating to the operation of the service which included 4 service user files, complaints, incidents, medicines, 2 staff files and records relating to the provider’s quality assurance systems.

Updated 5 June 2018

This comprehensive inspection was announced and took place on 28 March 2018 with a second announced visit on 4 May 2018. Additional telephone calls and visits to people using the service took place in between those dates. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Daily Options is part of the Lady Verdin Trust and is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own home, with their family or in other residential accommodation such as a care home. The office is located in the centre of Crewe. Plans were on-going plans for the service to merge with another provider, Choice Support.

Not everyone using Daily Options received regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. Of the 62 people receiving support from Daily options at the time of the inspection, only seven were receiving 'personal care'. Because of this we focussed our inspection on people who received personal care.

At the last inspection we rated the service as good and, at this inspection we found the service remained Good. This report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The service maintained effective systems to safeguard people from abuse and individual risk was fully assessed and reviewed. People were supported by enough staff to meet their needs and in a caring and compassionate way. People’s dignity, privacy, human rights and right to be as independent as they could be were maintained. When required, people were assisted with their medicines safely.

We saw evidence that the service learned from accidents and/or incidents and that steps were taken to prevent them happening again.

Staff had the training and skills needed to meet people’s needs and were supported by a management team in order to complete their role effectively.

People had care and support plans that were personal to them and reflected their individual needs and preferences. Staff knew people’s support needs well and assisted them in the manner they preferred. The provider had systems in place to enable people and their relatives or representatives to give their views. These included a system for recording and responding to complaints, meetings, regular contact, review and a service questionnaire.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) provides a legal framework for making particular decisions on behalf of people who may lack the mental capacity to do so for themselves. The Act requires that as far as possible people make their own decisions and are helped to do so when needed. When they lack mental capacity to take particular decisions, any made on their behalf must be in their best interests and as least restrictive as possible.

We saw that the service was working within the principles of the MCA and that information within care records, observations and staff knowledge supported this. The registered manager had identified that documentation to record assessment of a person’s mental capacity, recording of best interest decision making and consent needed to be improved and was working with the provider to source new documentation.

Staff spoke positively about the provider and management of the service including the approachability of senior staff.

Daily Options worked effectively with other agencies including other care providers involved in people’s care, social workers and supported people to attend appointments to health care services as and when needed.

Quality assurance systems were in place. A variety of audits were carried out and used to drive improvement.

Further information can be found in the detailed findings included in the full report of this inspection.