The Care Quality Commission
  • Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Archived: Rainbow Care Limited (East Grinstead)

Bulrushes Farm, Coombe Hill Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 4LZ (01342) 327888

Provided and run by:
Rainbow Care Limited

All Inspections

12 March 2014

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Our previous inspection to this agency had identified that they had missed a small number of calls to people. For those people affected, this had had impacted negatively on them. This visit was planned to follow-up on the action the agency told us they had taken to ensure people received the care they required and expected.

During our inspection we spoke with five people that currently received services from Rainbow Care Limited. We also visited the agency's office unannounced. We also looked at the monitoring reports from the commissioning team at West Sussex County Council, who provided funding for a number of the people who used this agency. Each of these sources told us that the agency had not missed any care calls since our last inspection.

We found that the agency had implemented a new call monitoring system for those people who were most vulnerable. As such we saw that for those people who required support at specific times, care staff were confirming with the office that they had arrived at the person's house. This meant that peope were better protected because the agency ensured that they received their care.

People told us that they were happy with the quality of care that they received from Rainbow Care Limited. They said that the quality of service had improved significantly and that they now "Never missed a call" and "My previous issues with late calls are all resolved now." People told us that they received a "good service" and had "No concerns or complaints at all".

10, 22 July 2013

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Our previous inspection identified shortfalls in the way care records were maintained. This visit was planned to follow-up on the action the agency told us they had taken. During this inspection we found that the agency had improved the way it assessed people and had recorded more information about how people required support. This meant that people experienced less risk of receiving care that was inappropriate or unsafe.

During our inspection we spoke with twelve people that received services from Rainbow Care Limited, four relatives of people who used the service and ten members of staff. We visited the agency's office unannounced on two occasions. We also spoke with the commissioning team at West Sussex County Council, who provided funding for a number of the people who use this agency.

People told us that they were generally happy with the quality of care that they received from Rainbow Care Limited. They were positive about the care staff who supported them and described them as being "Extremely good", "Very kind" and "All very helpful." We found that most of the people who had services from the agency were supported by a range of care staff. People said that they would like regular care staff, but that as everyone was nice it was not a big problem to be sent different people.

During our inspection we identified that the agency had missed a small number of calls to people. Whilst this was not a regular occurrence, for two people this failure had impacted negatively on them. We saw evidence that the agency was in the process of taking steps to address this problem and safeguard people better in the future.

28 January 2013

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Our last inspection of 11 July 2012 identified shortfalls in the way the agency kept records about the care it provided. The Provider wrote to us after that visit and told us they had taken action to meet our requirements. This inspection was a follow-up visit to the agency's office to assess whether Rainbow Care Limited had made the necessary improvements to be compliant with the Regulations.

As people who used the service did not have access to the paperwork stored at the office, we did not seek their feedback as part of this inspection. The people we spoke with as part of our previous inspection told us that they were happy with the care that they received from this agency.

We looked at the care records for six people who received personal support from the agency. We found that the systems in place to assess new clients had improved. There were still significant shortfalls in the records that had been maintained for people who had used the service for longer. The manager and deputy manager told us that they regularly visited and spoke with clients to ensure the support they received met their needs. There were no records about these reviews. Care guidelines and risk assessments lacked the necessary information.

Whilst we did not find any evidence of concern about the care that people received from this agency, their continued failure to maintain accurate records meant that people were at risk of not receiving safe care.

11 July 2012

During a themed inspection looking at Domiciliary Care Services

We carried out a themed inspection looking at domiciliary care services. We asked people to tell us what it was like to receive services from this home care agency. This was part of a targeted inspection programme of domiciliary care agencies with particular regard to how people's dignity was upheld and how they can make choices about their care. The inspection team was led by a CQC inspector and joined by an Expert by Experience who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.

We visited the agency's office and met with the manager and senior staff at that time. We also interviewed four care workers at the office and spoke with another care worker over the telephone. We visited four people in their own home and spoke with them and their relatives about their experiences of the support they have received.

We also spoke with fifteen people and eight relatives of people who had received a service from this agency over the telephone. Without exception, everyone we spoke with said that their regular care workers were very good and very kind to them. They told us that their care workers always treated them with respect and protected their privacy and dignity.

Most of the people we spoke with told us that their care was personalised to their needs and that they felt comfortable and safe with the care workers that supported them. The majority of the people we spoke with could not recall the details of their care plan and did not believe that it was regularly updated, although told us that as they received regular care workers this did not affect the quality of the care they received. Some of the people we spoke with told us that their care needs had not always been assessed prior to them receiving care.

Most of the people we spoke with said that they did not receive a lot of contact from the agency's office, but that they were always very helpful if they needed to contact them.