Archived: Alliance Care Homes

Alliance care and Support Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The agency supports 81 people in total. Some of the people using the service had differing needs and the frequency of visits depended on people's individual requirements. Some elements of the service, although provided by Alliance Care and Support, would not need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) if this was their sole purpose. Because of this, we have focussed our inspection on the people in receipt of the regulated activity of personal care only. At the time of our inspection 71 people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People spoke positively about the service. They said us they felt safe and their needs were being met. Care and support was personalised to people's individual needs.

Assessments were carried out to ensure people's needs could be met. Where risks were identified,

management plans were in place to manage these safely.

Medicines were managed safely, and staff followed appropriate infection control practices.

Appropriate numbers of suitably skilled staff were available to support people's needs.

Staff had the knowledge and experience to support people's needs. They were supported through

induction, training and supervision to ensure they performed their role effectively.

People were supported to maintain good health and had access healthcare services. People were encouraged to eat healthy food for their wellbeing.

People were supported 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.

People's privacy, dignity and independence was promoted.

There were effective systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. The service worked with healthcare services and professionals to plan and deliver an effective service.

Rating at last inspection: Good (Inspection report published in November 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Alliance Care and Support Limited provide a variety of care and support to people in their own homes. This includes supporting people with personal care needs, shopping, cooking, and companionship. The service also provides 24-hour care within people’s homes, provided by small staff teams doing shifts.

The service has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The service has been rated as Good in each of the five domains, with an overall rating of Good.

The registered manager and management team communicated appropriately with other organisations and within the guidance set out with the Registration Act 2009.

The service provided safe care. People using the service could be assured that staff had been through a rigorous employment process and had been safely recruited. People using the service could be confident that care staff had been trained to meet their needs safely and in a timely way.

Care practices were monitored through regular observations, and when needed care workers would receive additional training. Comprehensive risk assessments clearly identified to staff how to manage people’s risks safely whilst promoting choice and independence.

People who use the service described care staff and managers as kind and caring. Care workers knew people’s individual, diverse cultural, religious and gender needs and preferences. Rotas were organised so that people received care from staff that they had been able to develop positive relationships with people.

The service had a system in place that gave a comprehensive overview of care provided each day. Consequently, they were able to ensure that people did not receive a missed visit, inform, and support people if staff were running late due to unforeseen circumstances. People received care for a core care team of staff who knew their needs. They received a weekly rota so that they knew which staff would be coming for each visit. People told us that this was hugely reassuring.

When people’s needs changed, care workers would notify the registered manager and communicate with other health professionals in order to ensure people received the right care and treatment.

The service was run effectively and had good governance systems in place to ensure the quality of care provided was safe, effective and responsive to people’s needs.