Archived: Caring at Home Limited

Updated 22 August 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 completed by one 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 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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service 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 10 July 2019 and ended on 18 July 2019. We visited the office location on 10 July 2019 and made telephone calls to people who used the service and staff after this visit.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used this information to help plan our 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report and gave them the opportunity throughout the inspection visit to update us.

During the inspection

We spoke with the care manager, the assistant care manager, the business manager, and two care staff. We reviewed a range of records. These included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including complaints and staff training /competency checks.

After the inspection

We spoke with the relatives of four people who used the service by telephone. We also spoke with an additional member of care staff and one social care professional who worked closely with the service.

We sought additional assurances around the management of the service and plans to embed some policies and procedures.

Updated 22 August 2019

Caring at Home Limited is a is a domiciliary care provider providing personal care to 39 people at the time of the inspection. It provides personal care for people living in their own homes, so they can live as independently as possible.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.

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

Improvements had been made since our last inspection including investment in developing policies and procedures and other management tools. Some of these tools still needed to be fully embedded to be effective in assessing and driving improvements. We made a recommendation about continuing to develop and embed good governance. There was a complaints procedure in place and any concerns were managed promptly.

Staff received training and support, including regular team meetings, to do their jobs well. People had developed caring relationships with the staff who supported them. People were appreciative and spoke fondly of staff. The provider had developed good working relationships with other health and social care professionals to support the needs of people using the service.

Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were assessed and plans were in place to monitor people and to assist them in a safe manner, staff knew how to support people safely, including the use of equipment to assist them to move. Staff understood how to protect people from harm and were confident any concerns would be reported and investigated by the management team. There were care plans in place to guide staff and these were regularly reviewed.

Where people received assistance to take medicines, records were kept so this was done safely. When people required assistance to eat or drink, the provider ensured this was planned to meet their preferences and their current assessed need. People had support when required, in order to liaise with healthcare professionals to ensure they remained well.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 22 August 2018).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. We also held a meeting with them to discuss the actions they would take. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

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.