Archived: Didcot Self Directed Support Service

Updated 25 January 2016

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

We undertook an announced focused inspection of Didcot Self Directed Support Service on 25 November 2015. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. This inspection was done to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection on 10 August 2015 had been made. We inspected the service against four of the five questions we ask about services: Is the service safe, effective, responsive and well led. This is because the service was not meeting some legal requirements.

This inspection was undertaken by one inspector. We spoke with three care staff, two external professionals and one person who used the service. We also spoke with the manager, the deputy manager and the Quality Monitoring Improvement Manager. We looked at five people’s care records and records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 25 January 2016

We inspected this service on 25 November 2015. This was an announced focused inspection.

At a comprehensive inspection of this service in August 2015, we identified four breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We issued the provider with a warning notice. The warning notice required the provider to meet the legal requirements of the regulation by 31 October 2015. After the comprehensive inspection the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches of the regulations.

We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plans and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Didcot Self Directed Support Service on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

The service did not have a registered manager; however, there was a new manager in post and an application for registration was with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 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.

People's care plans contained up to date information and were regularly reviewed, this included risk assessments and risk management plans. However, there were still improvements needed to ensure risk management was accurately recorded.

People had correct and up to date information in their homes so staff could support them safely. They had been provided with contact numbers to assist them in an emergency.

The provider had taken action to ensure staff had the knowledge and skills to deliver care and support safely. Staff were meeting with management regularly to ensure they had the support needed to deliver effective care.

The providers had introduced effective systems to monitor the service and had an overview of all accidents and incidents.

Since August 2015, the provider had improved the system for managing the service. However, we have not changed the overall rating for this service because we want to be sure that the improvements will be sustained and embedded in practice. We will check this during our next planned comprehensive inspection.