Serve

Updated 24 December 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector, an assistant inspector and two Experts 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 houses and flats.

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

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to ensure there were people we could speak to and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 12 November 2019 and ended on 15 November 2019. We visited the office location on 12 November and made calls to people who used the service and staff on 13, 14 and 15 November.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed other information that we held about the service such as notifications. These are events that happen in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. We considered the last inspection report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with 23 people who used the service and 10 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 12 members of staff including seven care staff, two team leaders, the registered manager and care operations manager. We also spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 24 December 2019

About the service

Serve is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in the community.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of inspection 81 people were being supported with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; however, the policies and systems in place did not always support this. Some staff lacked training around the Mental Capacity Act.

People were cared for by staff who were kind, caring and passionate about their work. They arrived on time and stayed with people for the time agreed. People’s dignity and privacy was maintained, and people felt in control of their lives.

People were cared for safely and staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe from abuse or harm. Risk assessments were undertaken to identify any risks to people’s care.

People received their medicines safely and there were effective practices in place to protect people from infection.

People had individualised care plans which ensured they received person-centred care. Plans considered people’s preferences, their likes and dislikes and their cultural and religious backgrounds.

Staff received mandatory training they required but had not always received regular supervision. They liaised with other health and social care professionals to look at ways to improve people's life experiences.

The registered manager and provider were open and honest and strived to look at ways to improve the service.

The systems in place to monitor the quality of the service were effective. Complaints were listened to and used to drive improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 20 May 2017)

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

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