Archived: Hestia Care at Home

Updated 2 May 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:

One adult social care inspector undertook this inspection.

Service and service type:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community.

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:

Email contact was made with some people using the service a week in advance of the site visit. We gave the service one week’s notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the director and registered manager are often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection site visit and activity started on 4 March 2019 and ended on 14 March 2019. We visited the office location on 4 and 13 March 2019 to see the director, registered manager and to review care records and policies and procedures. On 13 March we met staff and visited people being supported in their own homes, and on 14 March we made phone calls to other people and staff.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed all the information we had about the service, including notifications which the service is legally obliged to send to us.

Prior to the inspection the service had sent us a Provider Information Return or PIR giving us information about the service and changes they had made since the last inspection. During the inspection we visited four people in their own homes, and contacted two others by phone. We also met with the director, registered manager and six members of staff. We received emails from four healthcare professionals and a further three people and a relative. We looked at the care records for the four people we visited, the recruitment records for three staff members, as well as records relating to the running of the service including, training records and quality assurance audits.

Updated 2 May 2019

About the service: Hestia Care at Home is a small domiciliary care agency located in the South Hams town of Totnes, Devon. The service provides personal care and domestic support to adults within their own homes in Totnes and the surrounding villages. Hestia Care at Home is a Community Interest Company, which means it is a company that uses its profits and assets for 'the public good'. At the time of the inspection the service was providing support to 18 people, 10 of whom were receiving support with personal care. As the Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not regulate domestic support, this inspection relates only to people receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

• The service remained outstanding in the personalised care and support provided to people. The service valued and respected people’s preferences, lifestyles and choices. Without exception people, relatives and healthcare professionals told us the service was “excellent”. We were provided with examples of how the service had gone above and beyond what was expected of them to promote people’s well-being.

• People were safe and received the supported they needed to remain living at home. Relatives told us how much they valued the service. One relative said, “The best team we have ever had helping us out. Hestia have never let us down. Always been patient and polite and supportive not just to mum but to me.”

• People were fully involved in decisions about their care and support. The service regularly reviewed people’s needs to ensure these were fully understood and support plans reflected this. Where necessary healthcare professionals were involved in supporting people with guidance and advice about how to meet people’s support needs. The service was able to demonstrate the positive impact their care and support had on people.

• The service had a strong commitment to social inclusion and guided people to other support services. The service was very much involved in working with other agencies to make Totnes an accessible town for all.

• Staff were safely recruited and received the training and support they required. People remained at the heart of the recruitment and selection process, and no member of staff would be employed if a person felt they were not suitable.

• The service had been nominated for the Outstanding Care Awards 2019 in recognition of the high standards of care provided. One healthcare professional said the director, “Fights hard to make sure Hestia achieves the gold standard care for all in her care.”

• The service continued to be exceptionally well-led. We were told the management team were passionate about the care the service provided. Staff demonstrated a pride in working for the organisation.

• The service managed their resources to ensure they could meet their commitments and keep people safe. For example, when staff fed back they could not work additional hours to cover sickness for example, the management team took action to address this. The service had placed a temporary voluntary suspension on taking new people until they had recruited additional staff. Following the inspection, the director confirmed that new staff had been appointed and the suspension was no longer required.

• The service used reflective practice to review how well people were being supported and whether any more could be done. There was a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.

The service met the characteristics for a rating of “good” or “outstanding” in all the key questions we inspected. Our overall rating for the service after this inspection was “outstanding”.

Rating at last inspection: Outstanding (September 2016)

Why we inspected: This inspection was scheduled based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the home 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