Acorn to Oak Homecare

Updated 22 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:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience (ExE). An ExE 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 caring for people with physical disabilities and people with dementia.

Service and service type:

Acorn to Oak Homecare is a domiciliary care service. This service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. Not everyone using Acorn to Oak Homecare receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

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:

This was an announced inspection and the service was given 48 hours’ notice. This was to ensure people and staff were available for us to speak with. The inspection took place on 10 April 2019.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered with CQC. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We used information the provider sent us in their Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection we spoke with 10 people using the service and nine relatives. We spoke with four members of staff, the registered manager and a representative of the provider. We reviewed five people’s care and support records and five staff files. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service such as incident and accident records, meeting minutes, recruitment and training records, policies, audits and complaints.

Updated 22 May 2019

About the service: Acorn to Oak Homecare is a domiciliary care service. There were 48 people receiving the regulated activity of ‘personal care’ from Acorn to Oak Homecare at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

• There was a person-centred culture that was driven by a motivated and committed provider and registered manager. This motivation resulted in a stable staff team who were supportive and committed to providing consistent, good quality, individualised care and people received a caring service.

• Staff ensured people’s care needs and personal wellbeing was at the heart of this service. Staff provided care and worked creatively to ensure people’s religious needs were met and facilitated a sense of community to protect people from becoming isolated.

• People and their relatives told us staff treated people like family. They felt their views were listened to and they were part of a service that cared for them and acted on their views.

• Staff had good relationships with people and knew them well. People told us they were happy with the staff who supported them.

• People received their medicines as prescribed and medicines were managed safely.

• Care plans were person centred and included people’s personal preferences. This meant people received a service which was tailored to their individual needs.

• There was an open culture where staff and people told us they felt they could raise any concerns that they wanted to.

• People, relatives and staff told us the service was well-led. The registered manager was a visible presence and knew people and their relatives well.

• People’s feedback was encouraged and used to shape the service. Systems were in place to monitor and improve quality in the service.

The service met the characteristics of Good overall.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Rating at last inspection: This was the first time the service has been inspected since their registration with the CQC on 10 April 2018.

Why we inspected: We inspected this service as part of our ongoing Adult Social Care inspection programme. This was a planned inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.