We inspected HF Trust – Oxon Vale DCA on the 22 August 2016. The inspection was announced. HF Trust Oxon Vale DCA is a domiciliary care service in Abingdon that provides 24 hour support and outreach support to adults with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder to help people live independently in the community. At the time of this inspection the agency was supporting 27 people across seven houses and outreach to three people. There was an experienced and committed registered area manager in post who was the Regional Manager and two cluster managers whose aim was to find ways to enable staff to provide responsive care to people that use the service. 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 received an outstanding level of care that was responsive to their individual preferences and needs. The service had undertaken a strong commitment to ensuring that people in the service received individual person centred care. They had taken the time to find out what was important to the person and ensured that wherever possible people were able to follow their wishes to visit places they had expressed they wanted to do. Documentation had been prepared that was meaningful to the person and to help them understand this information as much as possible. Staff showed excellent understanding and appropriate responses to people’s needs and preferences. Relatives described a staff team that were able to support individuals to have the best life possible which had given them peace of mind. It was evident that people passed their time in the way they chose and wherever possible were given opportunities to increase their independence through positive risk taking.
The registered manager, cluster managers and supported living workers knew what to do if they suspected someone was being abused or harmed. Recruitment practices were robust and contributed to protecting people from staff who were unsuitable to work in adult social care. Medicines were managed and stored safely so that people received their medicines as prescribed. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs.
Staff had received a wide range of training so that they had a good understanding of how to meet people’s needs. The registered managers and staff understood their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The MCA provides a legal framework to assess people’s capacity to make certain decisions, at a certain time. Staff were clear about the importance of gaining consent from people.
People participated in all the stages of choosing, planning and the preparation of their meals. Healthy eating was discussed in meetings and people were supported with any dietary needs they had. People were given guidance and reassurance if they needed it to maintain their health and wellbeing.
Staff made sure that if people became unwell, they were supported to access healthcare professionals for treatment and advice about their health and welfare. They did this in partnership with people and provided full information for people to help them understand their health needs.
People received care and respect from staff that had strong values about treating people in a way that respected them as individuals. Relatives described staff as excellent and who went out of their way to support people to achieve their expressed wishes. Staff were respectful of people’s privacy and dignity.
Management and staff understood the importance of responding to and resolving concerns quickly. The complaints procedure, as with all other communications, was produced in a format people could easily understand. Relatives told us that if they had a complaint to make or a worry to voice, they felt confident to raise them in the open and inclusive atmosphere there was in the service.
The service was well led by a management team that was committed to finding ways to support the people to be citizens in the wider community, to lead a full and active life and to be in full control of what happened to them. Staff told us that the management led by example and was supportive and easy to talk to. The management was responsible for monitoring the quality and safety of the service, and had done so consistently.
The service continually asked people for their views about the day to day care they received through conversations, meetings and reviews. People were given an opportunity to take part in debates and discussions about improving their quality of life locally and nationally. This meant that their thoughts and expectations led improvement to the service they received. The provider’s outlook was reflected in the way this service was run and they included the people who used the service in decisions about how the organisation was run.