Background to this inspection
Updated
13 September 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:
The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.
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 agency provides care to adults, including people with dementia, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, a learning disability or mental health issues.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 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 had worked at the service in different roles for nearly eight years and was registered with CQC on 9 August 2019 during the inspection
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection site visit because this is a small service and we needed to be sure arrangements could be made to meet with key staff and people who use the service.
Inspection site visit activity was carried out on 7 and 16 August 2019. We visited the office location to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We contacted people using the service on 28 August 2019.
What we did:
We reviewed 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 also considered the last inspection report and action plan and looked at the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
We contacted health and social care professionals who work with the service to ask their views.
During the inspection we visited two people who use the service in their homes and spoke with them and a relative. We spoke with the registered manager and members of the management team and staff working in the office.
We looked at a selection of records which included;
Two care and support plans
Two staff files
The providers policies
Quality assurance audits and the provider’s quality improvement plan
Complaints
Staff training and supervisions
Results of completed satisfaction surveys.
After the inspection site visit we contacted ten people and relatives by phone and emailed care staff to ask for their views about the service.
Updated
13 September 2019
About the service: Homelife Carers (Tiverton) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses in Tiverton, Crediton, Cullompton and surrounding areas. Not everyone using the service receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 185 people were receiving ‘personal care'.
People’s experience of using this service:
There had been changes to the provider since our last visit with a new company taking the lead. They were working with the registered manager to implement new systems at the service which was causing some anxiety amongst staff. The registered manager was working with staff to minimise the uncertainty during the transition.
People were happy with the service they received. People told us they felt safe and mostly had a consistent reliable staff group who always turned up on time or informed them if they were running late.
Risks associated with people’s care had been assessed and managed to keep people safe. Staff understood safeguarding procedures should they be concerned a person may not be safe.
People's needs were assessed before they started to receive care visits to make sure their needs could be met. Care plans confirmed how people should receive support and people's experience of their care visits were regularly reviewed to ensure these were completed in accordance with what had been agreed.
People were treated with dignity, respect and kindness. Staff knew people well and provided personalised care. 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. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
People received their medicines safely. We discussed medicine administration records were not consistently clear. The registered manager assured us a new computerised system being implemented would make medicine information clearer for staff.
Staff understood their responsibilities to maintain good infection control practices to prevent the spread of infection and people confirmed staff followed good practice when supporting them.
There were enough suitably trained staff available to meet people's contractual agreements. People confirmed they received the support as agreed and spoke positively of the caring approach of staff. Competency checks of staff were regularly undertaken to make sure they continued to support people safely and appropriately.
Staff worked with other professionals to ensure people received support when needed. Staff supported people to make contact with health care professionals if required.
People knew how to raise any concerns if needed. The registered manager had responded to complaints and taken actions to resolve them.
There was a quality monitoring system to enable the registered manager and provider to have oversight of the service, and make sure any improvements needed, were identified and acted upon.
Rating at last inspection: Good (report published in January 2017).
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on 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