Shapes Domiciliary Service

Updated 11 February 2022

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

The inspection was undertaken by an inspector, a medicines inspector and an Expert by Experience. 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 homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service a day’s notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 15 December 2021 and ended on 13 January 2022. We visited the office location on 21 and 22 December 2021.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the 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. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four parents and carers of children and young people who used the service about their experience of the care provided and received feedback from a further two family members. We spoke with the registered manager and had email contact with two further staff, with additional feedback from a further member of staff.

We reviewed a range of records. These included two people’s care records, three people’s daily care notes, three people’s medication records, two staff files and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 11 February 2022

About the service

Shapes Domiciliary Service is a care service providing personal care to children and young people aged between 0 and 25 with disabilities and complex health needs. There were 15 children and young people using the service at the time of the inspection, all of whom were aged under 18.

Not everyone who uses the service receives 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

Parents and carers spoke highly of staff, describing their caring approach and saying they treated the whole family respectfully. They felt listened to and included in the care planning process. The service respected their wishes in terms of well-matched staff who worked with them.

Families trusted the small teams of staff who supported their child or young person and had confidence in their abilities. Risks to children and young people were assessed and managed in consultation with their parents. Medicines were managed safely. Staff followed infection prevention and control precautions.

Children’s and young people’s needs were assessed holistically before they started to receive care and were kept under review. The service worked closely with children’s and young people’s healthcare teams to plan and provide care that was tailored to their individual needs. Staff were supported through training and supervision to work safely and effectively, including providing specialised care if a child or young person needed this.

Parents and carers were positive about their child’s or young person’s care. They were involved in care planning and felt staff had a good understanding of the care and support their child needed. Parents and carers told us they knew who to speak with if they had a complaint or concern about the service. They said these were dealt with properly.

Parents, carers and staff said the service was well managed. There was good communication with families. The registered manager was experienced in their role, had a good understanding of their responsibilities and worked in an open and honest way. They oversaw a programme of quality assurance audits, monitoring accidents and incidents, and addressed any areas for improvement.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

¿ Whilst children and young people using the service were not all able to consent to their care, their wishes and preferences were central to decisions about their care. Care was designed and delivered to promote their independence.

¿ 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.

Right care:

¿ Care was highly individualised according to the child or young person’s needs. Parents and, as far as possible, children and young people, were meaningfully involved in care planning. Care promoted children’s and young people’s dignity, privacy and human rights.

Right culture:

¿ The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and staff ensured people using the service led confident, included and empowered lives. The registered manager and leadership team led by example, reflecting a person-centred, inclusive approach.

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 this service was good (published 1 October 2019).

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 Shapes Domiciliary Service 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.