Here to Care - Saffron Walden

Updated 13 September 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 19 August 2019 and ended on 30 August 2019. We visited the office location on 19 and 21 August 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited two people at home and spoke with them about their experience of the service. We spoke with another person by telephone and two relatives. We spoke with four members of staff and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records, including two peoples care records, medication records and risk assessments. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, including staff files and quality audits.

Updated 13 September 2019

About the service

Here to care - Saffron Walden is a domiciliary care service and is registered to provide personal care to older people and people with physical care needs in their own home. The service covers the Saffron Walden area and at the time of our inspection was supporting 13 people with personal care.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received care that was person centred and caring from staff who knew them well and with whom they had good relationships. People told us that they would recommend the service.

The registered manager was committed to providing good quality individualised care and lead by example. Staff were provided with guidance on how risks to people’s wellbeing should be managed and the steps that they needed to take to keep people safe.

Staff suitability was checked prior to their employment. Staff received training, support and supervision. Staff performance was monitored to ensure that they were working to the standards required. There were systems in place to provide support out of hours and staff told us that the management of the service were approachable and helpful.

Meals were freshly prepared, and people were supported to eat and drink in line with their care plan and nutritional needs. People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Care plans were in place to guide staff and underpin the delivery of personalised care. Relatives told us that the service communicated well with them and escalated issues appropriately. There was a complaints policy in place and people’s concerns were investigated. People told us that they felt comfortable raising concerns.

Systems were in place to audit the quality of care delivered to people and drive improvement. People’s views were key to this process and regular satisfaction surveys on the quality of care were undertaken.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 17 September 2018 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

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