Archived: Autism Sussex Domiciliary Care, West Sussex

Updated 24 January 2017

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 inspection took place on 8 November 2016. It was carried out by one inspector and was announced. We gave the registered manager 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure someone would be in the office.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed previous inspection reports and notifications received from the service before the inspection. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing any potential areas of concern.

As part of the inspection we sought feedback from people who use the service, their relatives, care staff and social care professionals. We were unable to obtain detailed feedback from people about their experiences because of their complex needs, but used other methods of understanding people’s experience and how their care needs were met. We briefly met with a person who was attending the day service, but they were not able to share their views about the personal care they received. We received feedback from two relatives. Four staff members provided feedback. We also spoke with the registered manager and care coordinator.

We looked at care records for two people, a number of policies and procedures, three staff recruitment files, staff training, induction and supervision records, staff rotas, complaints records, incident records, audits and minutes of meetings.

The service was last inspected in September 2014 and there were no concerns.

Updated 24 January 2017

The inspection took place on 8 November 2016. We gave the provider 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure someone would be in the office.

Autism Sussex Domiciliary Care, West Sussex forms part of a larger service provided by Autism Sussex. This includes outreach services, children’s services and day centres, all of which fall outside of the Care Quality Commission’s scope of registration. The domiciliary care service provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection six people were receiving personal care from this service. No one using the service at the time of the inspection received assistance with their medicines. The service works with people with a learning disability and/or autism.

The service had a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 were protected from risks to their health and wellbeing. Up to date plans were in place to manage risks, without unduly restricting people’s independence.

Relatives told us that people were safe at the service and knew who they would speak to if they had concerns. The service followed the West Sussex safeguarding procedure, which was available to staff. Staff knew what their responsibilities were in reporting any suspicion of abuse.

Relatives told us that people were treated with respect and their privacy was promoted. Staff were caring and responsive to the needs of the people they supported. People's health and well-being was assessed and measures put in place to ensure people's needs were met in an individualised way.

Staff received training to enable them to do their jobs safely and to a good standard. They felt the support received helped them to do their jobs well.

There were enough staff deployed to support people with their assessed needs. The registered manager considered people’s needs when allocating staff and staffing levels were calculated appropriately. The registered manager followed safe recruitment procedures to ensure that staff working with people were suitable for their roles.

People benefited from receiving a service from staff who worked well together as a team. Staff were confident they could take any concerns to the management and these would be taken seriously. Relatives were aware of how to raise a concern and were confident appropriate action would be taken.

People and their relatives were empowered to contribute to improve the service. They had opportunities to feedback their views about the service and quality of the care they had received.