Northumberland Mid & North Domiciliary Care Agency

“Date of assessment: 30 June 2026 to 24 July 2026 Mid and North Domiciliary Care Agency (known as Mencap to people and relatives), provides supported living to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received the regulated activity of personal care. CQC only inspect where people receive personal care. The service was providing care to 17 people at the time of the assessment. The service provided an exceptional standard of care and support and has continued to achieve a further overall outstanding rating. The service had a strong, person-centred culture where people were at the heart of decisions and staff consistently treated people with kindness, dignity and respect. People, relatives and healthcare professionals spoke highly of the care people received. People described feeling safe, listened to and well supported. Staff knew people exceptionally well and worked with the same people in small teams to ensure people were always cared for by staff who knew them. Staff promoted independence and choice, and responded promptly to people’s needs to minimise discomfort and distress. We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. The service was meeting the principles of Right support, right care, right culture. Care and treatment were delivered to a consistently high standard. Assessments were carried out when popple moved to the service. Care documents were highly personalised and strong multi-disciplinary working supported people to access timely healthcare and to maintain and improve their health and wellbeing. There were safe systems for medicines, infection prevention control, risk management and safeguarding. Risk assessments included positive risk taking to maximise people’s independence. This was supported through appropriate staffing levels, training and competency checks. Leadership and governance were highly effective, with an open learning culture, strong partnership working and a clear commitment to continuous improvement. Staff were proud to work at the service and spoke highly of the management team and support they received. The management team were available at all times to provide support to staff. A new electronic care planning system supported auditing and oversight of people’s care, meaning trends or issues could be identified and resolved very quickly.  ”