Updated 22 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: One inspector, and two expert by experience carried out the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.
Service and service type: Sevacare Coventry is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes, including, older people and people living with dementia. CQC regulates the personal care provided. The experts by experience supported the inspection by making phone calls to people who used the service.
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. The registered manager was unavailable on the day we visited the office. The office visit was supported by the service director and the branch manager.
Notice of inspection: This comprehensive inspection took place on 23 May 2019. The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection because we needed to be sure the managers and other staff would be available to speak with us.
Inspection activity started on 26 March 2019 and ended on the 23 May 2019 when we visited the office location to meet with the managers, speak with staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did: Prior to the inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service and used this to help us plan our inspection. This included concerns and complaints we had received and information the provider must notify us about, such as allegations of abuse. We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We contacted the local authority commissioners for the service. The commissioner told us they had identified several concerns at their monitoring visit in early 2019. They had been working closely with the managers, who had made the required improvements to the service.
We spoke with a service director, the branch manager, the deputy manager, two care co-ordinators, a team leader and three members of care staff. We also spoke with 19 people, and 12 relatives of people who used the service by telephone.
We reviewed a range of records. This included, five people’s care records, including daily records, risk assessments and medicine records. Three staff personnel files, including recruitment, induction and training records. Records of complaints and the provider’s quality audits and checks.