Archived: Clarriots Home Care Limited

Updated 29 April 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is 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.

This inspection took place on 25 February 2016 and was announced. We also contacted people by telephone on 7 and 9 March 2016.

The inspection team consisted of an inspector.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

Before the inspection we reviewed other information that we held about the service such as notifications, which are events which happened in the service that the provider is required to tell us about, and information that had been sent to us by other agencies.

We also spoke with the local authority who had previously commissioned services from the provider in order to obtain their view on the quality of care provided by the service. The provider currently only accepted privately funded clients.

During our inspection, we spoke with four people who used the service, two relatives, and four members of the care staff, a care co-ordinator, a member of the finance team, a member of the marketing team and the registered manager.

We looked at five people’s care plan records and other records related to the running of and the quality of the service. Records included staff files, audit reports and questionnaires which had been sent to people who used the service.

Updated 29 April 2016

We inspected Clarriots Homecare on 29 February and 7 and 9 March 2016. This was an announced inspection. We do this to ensure staff are available to speak with us as most staff would be working away from the head office in people's homes. The service provides care and support for people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection Clarriots Homecare had contracts for 20 people.

People were of mixed age groups. Some people required more assistance either because of physical illnesses or because they were experiencing memory loss.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

CQC is required by law to monitor the operation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and to report on what we find.

We found that there were sufficient staff to meet the needs of people using the service. The provider had taken into consideration the complex needs of each person. This was balanced with the travelling time between calls for staff to make a safe journey. However, people expressed they did not like different care workers attending to their needs, but realised this was often because of short term absenteeism and new staffing being recruited. A minority of calls had been missed which was being addressed by the registered manager to ensure people were safe.

We found that people’s health care needs were assessed, and care planned and delivered in a consistent way through the use of a care plan. People were involved in the planning of their care and had agreed to the care provided. The information and guidance provided to staff in the care plans was clear. Risks associated with people’s care needs were assessed and plans put in place to minimise risk in order to keep people safe.

The staff knew the people they were supporting and the choices they had made about their care and their lives. People were supported to maintain their independence and control over their lives.

The provider used safe systems when new staff were recruited. All new staff completed training before working on their own. The staff were aware of their responsibilities to protect people from harm or abuse. They knew the action to take if they were concerned about the welfare of an individual.

People had been consulted about the development of the service and quality checks had been completed to ensure services met people’s requirements.