Darlington Borough Council In House Home Care

People's experience of the service and what we found: We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

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 Support: Medicines were given safely by trained and competent staff. The service had plans and guidance to support people with identified risks. Care was person centred and promoted choice and independence. People were supported to achieve positive outcomes. People were supported by staff who received an induction and ongoing training.

Right Care: People received kind and compassionate care. Feedback from people was all positive, staff knew people well, understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff promoted and respected people's right to privacy, dignity, and respect. Staff knew how to protect people from the risk of harm and abuse.

Right Culture: The manager listened to concerns and promoted a positive culture that was person-centred, open, and inclusive. Staff were supported and given opportunities to feedback about the service. Quality assurance processes enabled continuous improvement. As the manager had not been in post long some systems and processes were still in development, but plans were in place and being acted on.

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