Handley Care Services Limited

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks relating to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, 6 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

This service was previously rated as good at their previous inspection (report published on 12 June 2019). The provider had recently added the ‘supported living’ service type to their CQC registration; however, the previous report referred to the exact same location. We carried out this inspection because the supported living part of the service had not yet been rated. This inspection was carried out by one 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. We gave the provider notice of our inspection. This was because we needed to ensure that people would be available to meet with the inspector.

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

A learning culture was evident and people felt they could raise any concerns and they would be listened to. Staff understood and managed risks well. There were enough staff with the right skills, knowledge, and experience to meet people’s needs. Staff had received relevant training and understood their roles and responsibilities. Overall, staff managed people’s prescribed medicines well.

People and their families where appropriate, were involved in deciding how they received their care. People’s care plans and risk assessments were in place, and took account of people’s individual communication needs as well as their personal care and health care needs. Staff ensured an appropriate best interest decision making process was followed where people did not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves.

People were treated as individuals and staff protected their privacy and dignity. Staff explained how they involved people in their care and support to ensure this matched with their personal preferences and routines.

Governance systems were in place and up to date. Supervisions and team meetings had taken place. Communication with people who used the service, their relatives and staff was overall positive.

The registered manager was knowledgeable, treated staff fairly and respected their wellbeing. The provider had a whistle blowing policy and staff were able to raise concerns if they needed. Staff collaborated with community healthcare teams to ensure people received consistent and effective healthcare support.