St Jude's Care Ltd

Updated 11 February 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked 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.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience, who contacted people by telephone. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

Notice of inspection

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 provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

The location office site visit took place on 28 November 2019, and visits to people's homes and telephone calls, took place on 2 December 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with 17 people and their relatives who used the service. We spoke with the two directors of the service (one of the directors was also the registered manager). We also spoke with, a deputy manager, live in care coordinator, domiciliary care coordinator and eight care staff. We visited two people's homes and met with one person at their day service. We reviewed the care records and medication records for six people who used the service. We reviewed records of accidents, incidents, compliments and complaints, staff recruitment, training and support as well as audits and quality assurance reports.

After the inspection –

We contacted four professionals who regularly work with the service and received feedback from two.

Updated 11 February 2020

About the service

St Jude’s is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. The service provided domiciliary care and 24-hour live-in care. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 84 people with the regulated activity personal care. The service provides care and support to people with a variety of needs including dementia, mental health, physical disability and learning disabilities. The service also provides nursing support and respite care.

Care Quality Commission (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

People described the service as well-led. 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. The culture of the service was caring and focused on ensuring people received person-centred care that met their needs in a timely way. It was evident staff knew people well and put these values into practice.

People who used the service, and their relatives, described a service they could rely on. They confirmed visits were not missed and staff arrived when expected. People had a rota telling them which staff to expect and at what time. They said the service was safe and there were sufficient staff employed to ensure all planned visits were undertaken. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited, and had their competency assessed to help ensure they were sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to support people safely.

The service had an effective out of hours system in place over 24hours. A contingency plan was in place to ensure the service kept running through adverse weather conditions or during staff sickness.

People received care and support that was extremely personalised to meet their individual needs. People and their relatives were at the centre of planning their care and support. The management team carefully matched people’s needs, preferences and interests to care staff to ensure the best possible care and support was delivered. This meant that staff had created caring and meaningful relationships with people, which resulted in positive outcomes for them.

The service understood the importance of supporting people to make day to day decisions and choices. Assessments of their care and support were detailed. Information was regularly reviewed which ensured it remained up-to-date ensuring people's diverse needs were met. Comprehensive assessments were completed, which considered all aspects of people’s health and care needs. Information about who and what was important to the person was also discussed and incorporated into care plans.

People were enabled to make choices about aspects of their care where they had capacity to make decisions. They were given opportunities to plan and choose how they spent their day, and how they wished to be supported.

The service supported some people living with a learning disability. Care and support provided had been in line with the values that underpinned Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion.

People were safe and protected from avoidable harm. Staff knew how to identify and report any concerns relating to the risk of abuse. Risks to people’s health, safety and well-being were assessed, and measures were in place to reduce the risks.

People’s medicines were managed safely, and staff had received training in medicines administration and had their competency assessed to ensure the safe administration of medicines.

A complaints policy was in place. When complaints were received these were recorded, and evidence time scales and action taken by the service to resolve the complaint. People told us they were aware of how to make a complaint and felt confidence their complaint would be resolved quickly.

People said the service was very well managed. There were effective systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service. Regular feedback about the quality of the service people received had been sought. The management team continually looked for ways to improve the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

The last rating for this service was Good (published 08 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for St Jude’s on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.