The Halow Care Agency

Updated 23 September 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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector with remote support of another 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 houses and flats and supported living houses.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. However, the head of care services applied for CQC registration and was awaiting an assessment.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection to be able to meet and communicate with people using the service and so the provider’s representatives were present in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 23 August 2022 and ended on 1 September 2022. We visited the location’s office on 25 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the changes in its registration. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service and two relatives of the people about their experience of the support and care provided. We spoke with 14 members of staff including the service management team, the nominated individual, a trustee, recruitment and training staff, senior support staff and support staff who were called ‘buddies’. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care plans and multiple medicines records for people supported with their medicines. We looked at recruitment checks and training records for three staff members. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

Updated 23 September 2022

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.

About the service

The Halow Care Agency is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care support to people who live in their own houses and flats or in shared small supported living housing. The service provides support to younger adults who live with a learning disability and to autistic people. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people using this service.

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:

People received support they chose to have and were treated as leaders in planning and reviews of their own support needs. The service was person-centred and enabled people to live independently, to achieve their goals and to be a valued part of their local community. People’s achievements and successes were celebrated.

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:

People told us staff were kind, caring and supportive. People were supported to be as independent as possible and to build their skills and self-confidence. People’s dignity, privacy and choices were respected by staff. People were involved at every stage of their support. Staff knew how to communicate with people well.

Staff were well trained, knew people well and provided safe care and support around people;s individual risks, needs and medicines when needed. There were enough staff to provide good and safe support, although the provider managed some staffing challenges at the time of the inspection.

Right Culture:

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. People were helped to access education, work and social opportunities relevant to their interests. The culture of the service was open, transparent and inclusive and we saw people freely approached staff and managers. The leaders of the organisation were monitoring quality, safety and needs of the service and took action to improve people’s experiences, to involve them and to respond to their feedback.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 24 September 2020 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 23 January 2020.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted by the length of time the service continued to support people following change of provider.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.