Care Organiser

Updated 9 June 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was completed by 3 inspectors.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in 16 ‘supported living’ settings, so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 2 working days’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the senior people within each scheme would be available to support the inspection. We also needed to obtain the consent from people using the service to be contacted by us to obtain feedback on their experience of using the service.

The inspection activity started on 18 April 2023 by visiting 4 supported living services.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since they registered with us, including any statutory notifications received. The provider completed a provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection

During the inspection

We spoke with 5 people using the service about their experiences of the care provided and observed interactions between staff and people. We spoke with scheme managers for 4 schemes and 5 care workers. We reviewed a range of records including care and staff records and records relating to the management of the service. After the inspection we spoke with the registered manager and continued to seek clarification from them to validate evidence found.

Updated 9 June 2023

About the service

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.

Care Organiser is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in supported living schemes across London. At the time of the inspection 25 people were receiving personal care in 9 schemes. 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: Model of Care and setting that maximises people’s choice, control and independence

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive ways possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

People received the right support in relation to risks, such as those relating to a learning disability, although risks relating to evacuating individuals at night had not always been recorded. There were enough staff to support people. The provider checked staff were suitable to work with people through recruitment checks although checks of gaps in employment histories could be improved. Staff received training in infection control practices, including the safe use of personal protective equipment (PPE). People received the right support in relation to their medicines and the provider had oversight of this through electronic systems and audits.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

The provider had not always notified CQC of significant events as required by law. The concerns we found had not always been identified by the provider which meant their oversight could be improved. The registered manager and staff understood their roles and responsibilities, although improvements could be made in relation to the areas where we found concerns. The registered manager engaged and consulted well with people using the service, relatives, and staff. Staff were well supported by the provider.

We did not inspect the key questions of effective, caring and responsive. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

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

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for the service was requires improvement with a breach relating to notifications to CQC (report published February 2022).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted to check improvements had been made since our last inspection.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to submitting notifications as required by law. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report. Having a breach meant the highest possible rating for this inspection is requires improvement,

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.