Background to this inspection
Updated
4 July 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 adult social care inspector, and an expert by experience who made calls to people. An expert by experience is someone who has experience of caring for an older person.
Service and service type:
Audley Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people in their own homes.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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:
The inspection was announced we gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 13 May 2019 and ended on 14 May 2019. We visited the office location on the 13 & 14 May 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records, policies and procedures.
What we did:
We reviewed information we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We also looked at information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
During the inspection we spoke with seven people, two relatives and four members of staff, including the registered manager and director. During the inspection we reviewed four people’s care and support records and three staff files. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service such as incident and accident records, questionnaires, recruitment and training records, policies, audits and complaints.
Updated
4 July 2019
About the service: Audley Court Ltd is registered to provide personal care. At the time of the inspection 12 people were receiving care from the service.
People’s experience of using this service:
Medicines were administered to people safely. The service had electronic and paper records and at times these were recording conflicting information about what medicines had been administered. This needed to be reviewed to avoid confusion and potential mistakes.
People felt safe and were supported by staff who had received training in safeguarding adults. However not all staff were able to confirm what external agency’s they could go to if they had concerns for people’s safety and this needed to be addressed.
People were supported by staff who used personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately and when required.
People’s care plans had risk assessments that identified risks and how they should be managed.
People felt improvements could be made when staff were running late or had been held up.
Staff received training and supervision.
All people at the time of the inspection had capacity and people had choice and control relating to the care they received.
Support could be provided to people if they wished to be supported with their medical appointments.
Staff were kind and caring and had a good knowledge about equality and diversity.
Care plans contained important information relating to people’s like and dislikes and routines. However, one electronically held care plan required printing out as the paper copy in the persons home was old and contained out of date information.
People felt able to complain and there was a complaints policy in place.
No one at the time of the inspection was receiving end of life support.
The provider had quality assurance systems in place, these identified shortfalls and there was an action plan in place to make improvements.
People’s views were sought by completing annual surveys and at the time of the inspection these views were being collated.
People felt the service was flexible to their needs and that they could support them with additional support if required.
Rating at last inspection: This was the home’s first inspection since their registration in May 2018.
Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection. All services registered with CQC must have an inspection within the first year of their registration.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will inspect in line with our inspection programme or sooner if required.