Background to this inspection
Updated
1 May 2015
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.
The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available to assist with the inspection. The inspection was carried out over two days by one inspector on 9 and 10 February 2015.
Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, this included incidents they had notified us about.
We visited one person in their home, spoke with one person and two relatives by telephone, and spoke with two care workers. We also spoke with the deputy manager (who was covering the registered manager’s position during their planned absence). We looked at three people’s care and medicine records in the office. We saw records about how the service was managed. This included four staffing recruitment and monitoring records, staff schedules, audits, meeting minutes, and quality assurance records.
We did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) before our inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they planned to make. This was because we were following up on the actions taken by the provider to meet the warning notices issued.
Updated
1 May 2015
The inspection was announced and took place on 9 and 10 February 2015. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. This was to make sure the deputy manager was available.
Staff 2000 employs care workers to provide personal care for adults of all ages in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to five people.
We last inspected Staff 2000 on 19 August and 2 September 2014. Following this inspection we issued four warning notices for repeated breaches of the regulations. This was because Staff 2000 had not met the shortfalls identified at our inspection in October 2013. The warning notices were issued because staff recruitment was not safe, staff did not have the training and support they needed, shortfalls in record keeping and monitoring the safety and quality of the service. Improvements had been made and all four warning notices were met.
There was a registered manager at the service but they were on a planned period of absence. The deputy manager was covering this position in the registered manager’s absence. 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 relatives said the staff were all very kind, compassionate, respectful and caring. They took the time to make sure people had everything they needed before they left them.
People told us they felt safe and relatives said their family members were safe with staff and they had confidence in staff. Any risks to people’s safety were assessed and managed to minimise risks.
There were systems in place to safely manage and administer medicines for people. Staff had been trained in the safe administration of medicines.
People received care and support in a personalised way. Staff knew people well and understood their needs and the way they communicated. We found that people received the health, personal and social care support they needed.
Staff were caring and treated people with dignity and respect. People and staff had good relationships.
Staff received an induction, core training and some specialist training so they had the skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs. There were enough staff employed and staff were safely recruited.
People and their relatives knew how to raise concerns or complaints. People and relatives were regularly consulted by the managers.
The culture within the service was personalised and open. There was a clear management structure and staff, relatives and people felt comfortable talking to the managers about any issues and were sure that any concerns would be addressed. There were systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service provided.