Background to this inspection
Updated
30 January 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 checked 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 visit took place on 7 and 8 December 2015 and was announced. The provider was given seven days’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to make sure staff were available to speak with us.
One inspector and one expert by experience carried out this inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Their area of expertise was care for older people.
Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service.
We used a range of different methods to help us understand people’s experience. We visited six people in their homes and made telephone calls to 18 people. We sent out questionnaires to people who used the service and staff and used this information to make a judgement about the service.
We spoke with eight staff, the registered manager, and received feedback from one health care professional.
We looked at five people’s care records to see if their records were accurate and up to date. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service including quality checks.
Updated
30 January 2016
We inspected this service on 4 and 5 December 2015. This was an announced inspection and we telephoned the week prior to our inspection in order to arrange home visits and telephone interviews with people. Our last inspection took place in November 2013 and at that time we found the provider was meeting the regulations we looked at.
The service provides care and domiciliary support for older people and people with a learning disability who live in their own home in and around Burton upon Trent.
There was a registered manager in the 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.
People’s consent was sought before staff provided care and support. However, some people did not have capacity to make certain decisions. It was not clear how some decisions had been made and whether people had the necessary authorisations to make decisions on behalf of others. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.
People and their relatives felt safe when they received care. Risk assessments identified action to be taken to minimise the chance of harm occurring to people and staff understood this. People knew how to report concerns and staff knew how to keep people safe and supported people to understand risks. Checks were carried out prior to staff starting work to ensure their suitability to work with people.
People received an agreed level of staff support at a time they wanted it. People were happy with how the staff supported them. People had a regular team of staff who had the skills to meet their needs. People knew who was providing their support in advance and the provider was flexible and responsive to changes in people’s needs. People received their medicine and were supported to apply any cream they needed.
People chose how support was provided and they were involved in the review of their care. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and plan on-going improvements. Staff knew people well and supported them to manage their health care.
People were positive about the way staff treated them and staff were kind and compassionate. Staff listened to people’s views and people knew how to make a complaint or raise concerns.
The provider had systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of care and encouraged people and their relatives to give their feedback and used this to drive improvements.