Domiciliary Care Agency Surrey is a supported living service, owned by The Regard Partnership Limited. They provide support to people living at 10 houses. The service catered for people with learning disabilities and autism. Some of the people supported had mental health conditions. One unit specialised in acquired brain injury. At the time of our inspection, there were 23 people receiving personal care.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Why the service is rated Good

Sufficient numbers of staff were deployed to meet people’s need safely. The provider had carried out appropriate checks on staff to ensure that they were suitable for their roles. Staff understood how to respond to incidents and safeguarding concerns. Risks to people were assessed with appropriate plans in place to keep them safe. People’s medicines were administered safely by trained staff.

People were supported by staff who were trained to carry out their roles. Staff worked in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, this meant that people’s legal rights were protected. People liked the food that was prepared with them and any dietary needs were met. Staff worked alongside healthcare professionals to meet people’s needs.

People were supported by kind and caring staff that they got along with. Staff knew the people that they were supporting well. People were included in decisions about their care. Staff respected people’s privacy, dignity and independence.

People had access to a wide range of activities. Care plans were person centred and reflected people’s individual personalities and preferences. People were supported to complain and any complaints were responded to appropriately.

Staff felt well supported by management. Regular checks were undertaken to monitor the quality of the care that people received. The provider kept up to date records that were easy to access. Staff understood the visions and values of the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

This inspection took place on 19, 22 and 23 August 2016 and was announced.

Domiciliary Care Agency Surrey provides a supported living service for people with learning disabilities and or autism in transition from residential college, foster care or the family home. The service has four supported living schemes. We visited two: Middle Gordon Road and Gordon Avenue.

Middle Gordon Road is a supported living scheme with 24 hour staff support and accommodates up to seven people.

Gordon Avenue is a supported living scheme with 24 hour staff support and accommodates up to six people.

The service did not 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager of Domiciliary Care Agency Surrey had resigned a few weeks prior to this inspection and we had been notified. A new manager had been appointed and had only been in post for a few weeks. A locality manager told us they will be submitting an application to CQC for the registration of the new manager.

People receiving care were safe. Their feedback about the safety of the service described it as consistently good.

Their risks had been assessed and well managed. There were policies and procedures for managing risk and staff understood and followed them to protect people.

There were appropriate procedures in place to help ensure people were protected from all forms of abuse. Staff had received training on how to identify abuse and understood procedures for safeguarding people.

Staff managed medicines safely. The service stored medicines correctly, disposed of them safely and kept accurate records.

People were protected from the risks associated with the recruitment of new staff. The service followed safe recruitment practices.

People were safe because staffing levels were assessed and monitored to ensure they were sufficient to meet people's identified needs at all times.

People’s feedback about the effectiveness of the service described it as good. We saw that people experienced positive outcomes regarding their health. Staff knew their routine health needs and preferences and kept them under review. Appropriate referrals were made to other health and social care services.

The service ensured that the needs of people were met by staff who had the right competencies, knowledge, qualifications, skills, experience, attitudes and behaviours.

Staff understood and had a good working knowledge of the key requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. They put these into practice effectively, and ensured people’s human and legal rights were respected.

People said that the food and mealtimes were consistently good and spoke positively about the menu and the quality of food provided.

Staff understood how to support people with dignity. The relationships between staff and people receiving support demonstrated dignity and respect at all times.

People received personalised care, treatment and support. They were involved in identifying their needs, choices and preferences and how these were met.

There was an effective quality assurance system in place. The management and staff team were proactive in seeking out ways to improve.