Updated 28 June 2019
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one 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 service.
Service and service type:
Personal Assistant Services – East is a domiciliary care agency which provides support and assistance to 67 people with a learning and or physical disability and or a mental illness. It also supports people who are living with dementia. Of the 67 people using the service, 24 people received personal care. Our inspection focused on the care provided to these people only.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. They are referred to as the ‘registered manager’ in the report.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in. Inspection site visit activity started on 29 March 2019 and ended on 8 April 2019. We visited the office location on both dates to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures
What we did:
Our inspection was informed by information we already held about the service. This included feedback we had received from the public and the local authority since our last inspection and the information the provider sent us in their Provider Information return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
We spoke with one person who used the service, six family members and two home managers of accommodation in which two people lived. We also spoke with the registered manager, two team managers and two support workers. We reviewed eight people's care records and six people’s medicine records. We also reviewed documentation relating to the running and governance of the service. After the inspection, we reviewed additional evidence relating to staff training and safeguarding notifications.