Background to this inspection
Updated
12 April 2019
The inspection:
¿ We carried out our inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. Our inspection checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
¿ Our inspection was completed by one inspector and an 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:
¿ This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
¿ 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.
Notice of inspection:
¿ Our inspection was announced.
¿ We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection visit because it provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to ensure the registered manager and staff were available. Inspection site visit activity started on 27 February 2019 and ended on 7 March 2019.
What we did:
¿ Before the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included notifications sent to us by the provider, a Provider Information Return (PIR) and other information we held on our database about the service. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. A PIR is a form that requires providers to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used this information to plan the inspection.
¿ We visited the registered location on 27, 28 February and 7 March 2019 to see the registered manager and office based staff; and to review care records, other records related to the management of the service and policies and procedures.
¿ We spoke with three people using the service and relatives of 13 people who used the service.
¿ We spoke with the registered manager, chief operating officer, head of operations, head of care strategy, quality assurance manager, the head of internal engagement, a regional manager, a care manager, recruitment delivery manager, recruitment marketing manager, head of scheduling, an occupational therapist, a consultant admiral nurse, the business systems manager, two business development managers, seven carers and we received feedback from four health and social care professionals.
¿ We reviewed 17 care records, three staff personnel files, audits and other records about the management of the service.
¿ We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection. This was received and the information was used as part of our inspection.
Updated
12 April 2019
About the service:
¿ The Good Care Group is a domiciliary care service providing care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 250 people using the service, the majority older people living with a diagnosis of dementia.
People’s experience of using this service:
¿ People using the service were consistent in their view that the service was unique in its delivery of care and delivered outstanding care. Typical comments included, “Wonderful service. I do not feel I could survive without them” and “Excellent service that has truly given me a life line.”
¿ Health and social care professionals were equally impressed and said they had excellent working relationships with the service and felt that they were committed to supporting people to achieve the best outcomes possible.
¿ The service worked in partnership with health professionals and kept up to date with new research and developments in the field.
¿ There were champions within the service such as a specialist dementia nurses, Occupational Therapist and an independent clinical advisory board who provided clinical leadership in a number of areas.
¿ The provider was proactive in trying to mitigate against the risk of unnecessary hospital admissions. It demonstrated that people received a better quality of care when compared with residential care services.
¿ The provider encouraged positive risk taking which promoted people’s independence and their right to choose how they wished to be cared for.
¿ People received excellent care from care workers who were skilled in their roles. They provided people with emotional support and enabled them to lead independent and fulfilling lives.
¿ Care plans were individual and met the needs of people using the service.
¿ An independent investigations officer ensured that investigations into any incidents or complaints were robust and objective.
¿ there was an extremely high level of engagement with people, their relatives and staff. The provider was keen to get feedback so they could improve the service and the experience of people.
¿ Checks on the quality of the service were thorough and focussed on how they could achieve better outcomes for people.
¿ The service was an excellent role model for other services. It worked in partnership with others to promote positive experiences for people based on good practice.
¿ The provider was involved in numerous community initiatives, in partnership with other health and social care organisations.
¿ The service met the characteristics for a rating of “Outstanding” in all the key questions we inspected. Therefore, our overall rating for the service after this inspection was “Outstanding”.
¿ More information is in our full report.
Rating at last inspection:
¿ At our last inspection, the service was rated “Outstanding”. Our last report was published on 15 September 2016.
Why we inspected:
¿ This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.
Follow up:
¿ We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates as per our re-inspection plan.