Archived: Community Voice Ltd (Oxfordshire Domiciliary Support)

Updated 9 February 2017

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 and 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 25 January 2017and was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that they would be in. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Before the inspection, we looked at notifications we had received. Services tell us about important events relating to the care they provide using a notification. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern. We also contacted the commissioners of the service to obtain further feedback.

We spoke with three people who were receiving support from Community Voice and to three relatives. In addition we spoke with two care workers, one care co-ordinator and the registered manager of another location. We looked at five people’s care records, compliments records, a sample of policies and procedures and at a range of records about how the service was managed. We also reviewed three staff files, including their recruitment, supervision and training records. After our inspection we contacted three external professionals to obtain their views of the service.

Updated 9 February 2017

We inspected Community Voice Ltd (Oxfordshire Domiciliary Support) on 25 January 2017. Community Voice is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection 25 people were being supported by the service.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 and their relatives were complimentary about the staff and their caring approach. They told us staff respected people’s dignity and privacy. The staff team worked well with people, their relatives and other professionals to ensure people received support that met their assessed needs. People told us staff had sufficient skills and knowledge to carry out their jobs effectively. Staff felt well supported in their roles and told us they worked well as a team.

People told us they felt safe when they were being supported by the Community Voice team. Risks to people’s individual needs and their health and safety had been identified and actions had been taken to manage these. Appropriate arrangements were in place to ensure people were supported with the safe management of their prescribed medicines.

People were supported by staff who were aware of the whistleblowing policy and safeguarding process. Staff knew how to ensure that people were protected if they suspected people were at risk of abuse. There were sufficient numbers of staff employed to provide care to the people using the service and people benefitted from consistency of staff. Records confirmed recruitment checks had been carried out to ensure only staff that were suitable were employed to work with people.

People benefitted from staff that were familiar with the Mental Capacity Act and their responsibilities regarding it. Staff supported people to maintain a good diet and people’s nutritional needs were assessed and recorded in their care files.

People and their relatives were involved in the care planning process. People received care and support to meet their individual needs. People told us they knew how to raise concerns and had opportunities to provide feedback on the quality of the service received.

The provider had effective quality assurance processes in place to monitor the service provided and an ongoing action plan to support continuous improvement. The team demonstrated a positive culture and a strong commitment to delivering a high quality support.