Background to this inspection
Updated
28 November 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a small domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service had a manager, who was also the owner of the service, registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 72 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 25 October 2019 and ended on 5 November 2019. We made telephone calls to relatives on 25 October 2019, visited the office location on 1 November 2019 and made telephone calls to staff after this visit.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we held about the service. This included the previous inspection reports. action plans. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We looked at three people’s care records, which included support plans and risk assessments. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a range of documents relating to how the service was managed, including policies and audits.
We spoke with the registered manager, a company director and the office manager. We spoke on the telephone to five relatives and two people who used the service. We visited one person in their home and spoke with their relative. We spoke to two support workers on the telephone.
Updated
28 November 2019
About the service
White House Care Services is a small domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes and flats in the community. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 11 people.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People who used the service and relatives were positive about the care and support provided by White House Care Services. They felt the service was well-run and were pleased that their loved ones were supported by a small team of familiar staff. They told us support visits were not missed and staff stayed the full length of the visit.
The registered manager and care staff were approachable, and people told us they felt able to raise any concerns with them. The service had not received any recent complaints. As well as managing the service, the registered manager carried out support visits alongside support workers. This gave her the opportunity to regularly review people’s support needs and also check that staff were working to a good standard.
Thorough recruitment checks had been carried out on new staff to ensure they were of good character and suitable to work with vulnerable people. Staff told us they felt supported and received the training they needed for their role. All staff were regularly supervised. However, we found there was no supervision schedule in place to ensure these were carried out at regular intervals. We have made a recommendation about this in the effective section of this report.
People were helped to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Person-centred care plans and risk assessments were in place which identified the support people wanted. However, it was not obvious that people or their relatives had been involved with reviewing their care plans.
Staff treated people with dignity and respect and promoted their independence. Staff supported people with meal preparation where needed. They liaised with health and social care professionals effectively and sought advice quickly if people became unwell.
People told us they were happy with the way the service was run. The registered manager had improved the governance systems since our last inspection and there was better oversight of the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 23 October 2018). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.