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Archived: Mears Care Birmingham

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Ariel House 471-481 Garretts Green Lane, Garretts Green, Birmingham, West Midlands, B33 0SG (0121) 789 9162

Provided and run by:
Cera Care Operations Limited

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Background to this inspection

Updated 3 November 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 22 September 2016 and was announced. We told the provider that we were going to visit 48 hours before our inspection. This was because the service provided domiciliary care and we wanted to ensure that the manager and staff would be available to talk with us about the service. One inspector carried out this inspection.

As part of our inspection we looked at the information we held about the service. This included notifications received from the provider about accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts which they are required to send us by law. We reviewed regular quality reports sent to us by the local authority that purchases the care on behalf of people, to see what information they held about the service. These are reports that tell us if the local authority has concerns about the service.

The provider also completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) before our inspection. 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. We used this information to plan our inspection and ensure that any areas of concern were looked at. We contacted the local authority and asked for their views. We also reviewed regular quality reports sent to us by the local authority that purchases the care on behalf of people, to see what information they held about the service. These are reports that tell us if the local authority has concerns about the service they purchase.

We spoke with ten people and two relatives who used the service by telephone. We visited the services offices and spoke with the registered manager, regional manager and five staff including a senior carer.

We looked at a variety of documents which included four people's care plans, four staff recruitment files, staff training records and other records relating to the management of the service including complaints and audits carried out to monitor quality and safety.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 3 November 2016

The Inspection took place on 22 September 2016 and was announced. We told the provider that we were going to visit 48 hours before our inspection. This was because the service provided domiciliary care and we wanted to ensure that staff would be available to talk with us about the service. This was the first inspection of this service since their registration in 2015.

Mears Care is registered to provide personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support and personal care to 47 people.

There is a registered manager in place at this service. 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.

There were some areas where improvements could be made. Some people told us that the office staff did not always pass their messages on. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service but these had not always identified where improvement were needed.

People told us that they felt safe with staff and suitable recruitment procedures were in place.

Staff knew how to keep people safe from abuse and harm.

People were supported with their medicines and staff had been trained to do this.

Staff told us that they felt supported in their role. Staff received training and supervision to enable them to carry out their role effectively. There was an induction programme in place that supported staff to feel confident before working independently.

People told us that staff were kind and respected their privacy and dignity.

People were supported to have food and drink that met that needs.

People were supported to have their human rights upheld because they were able to consent and refuse care and support and were treated as individuals.

People knew how to raise concerns and complaints. Some people had needed to do this and were satisfied with how their concerns had been dealt with.