Community Support Service

Community Support Service is registered to provide personal care support to people. At the time of our inspection the agency supported nine people with personal care and employed 13 care workers, including two team leaders. The service is located in Solihull in the West Midlands.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes, including, older people, younger adults, people living with dementia, learning disabilities and people who experience mental health problems.

We last inspected Community Support Service in July 2017 and we rated the service as 'Requires Improvement' overall. This was because people's medicines and some risks associated with people's planned care had not been safely and consistently managed. Furthermore, the provider's quality monitoring systems were not effective and did not support continuous improvement. We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Regulation 17 (Good governance).

We asked the provider to send us a report, to tell us how improvements were going to be made to the service. The provider sent us an action plan which informed us how they planned to make the required improvements to address the issues we had identified. They told us these actions would be completed by August 2017.

At this inspection we checked to see if the improvements had been made and if they were effective. We found improvements had been made and action had been taken in response to the breach in the Regulation. However, further improvement was needed.

The service had a registered manager. A requirement of the provider's registration is that they have a registered manager. 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.

Improvements had been made to the way people's medicines and risks associated with their planned care were managed. Known risks had been assessed and risk management plans contained up to date information. Most assessments provided care workers with the information they needed to manage and reduce known risks safely. Care workers had a good knowledge of how to minimise risks to people's safety.

The management team completed regular checks to monitor the quality and safety of service provided, and encouraged people and relatives to share their views about the service to drive forward improvements. However, further improvement was required in both of these areas.

The provider conducted pre-employment checks prior to care workers starting work, to ensure their suitability to support people in their homes. People felt safe with their care workers and there were enough care workers to provide all planned care calls, at the times people expected and for the length of time needed.

Improvements had been made to people's care records and further improvements were planned. Care workers had a very good understanding of the people's needs and preferences and people were involved in developing and reviewing their care. People described their care workers as 'very caring and kind'.

People who required support had enough to eat and drink to maintain their health. The registered manager and care workers worked in partnership with other professionals to support people to maintain their health and well-being. People and relatives were confident care workers had the knowledge and skills needed to meet their needs.

The management team and care workers knew how to protect people from the risk of abuse and understood their responsibilities to report any concerns. Care workers understood their responsibilities in relation to infection control which protected people from the risks of infection. Care workers received an induction into the service, and a programme of on-going training supported them to meet people's needs effectively. Care workers felt valued and received regular management support through individual and team meetings.

People's privacy and dignity was respected and their independence promoted. The registered manager understood their responsibility to comply with the relevant requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). Care workers sought people's consent before care was provided.

People and relatives were very satisfied with the service provided and the way the service was managed. People and relatives were provided with information about how to make a complaint. No complaints had been received by the service.

The five questions we ask about services and what we found