Background to this inspection
Updated
19 January 2021
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 site visit was carried out by one inspector. A second inspector made calls to people who used the service and relatives.
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 48 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 9 December 2020 and ended on 16 December 2020. We visited the office location on 10 December 2020.
What we did before the inspection
We looked at information we held about the service such as notifications we had received from the registered manager. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We sought feedback from the local authority contract monitoring team prior to our visit. We used this information to plan the inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
Prior to the inspection site visit we asked the registered manager to send us some documentation electronically. This included records relating to the monitoring of the service provided, staff meeting minutes, risk assessments and accidents and incidents.
During the inspection site visit we looked at a range of documents and records related to people’s care and the management of the service. We viewed three people's care and medication records, four staff recruitment, induction, supervision and training files and a selection of records used to monitor the quality and safety of the service.
During the office site visit we had discussions with the registered manager and administrator.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We contacted four people who used the service and two relatives to ask their views on the service provided. We also contacted two members of staff.
Updated
19 January 2021
About the service
Cornforth Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats to predominantly older people living in and around the Whitby area. At the time of this inspection, 15 people were using the service.
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 were extremely happy with the care and support they received, and they felt safe. Risks to people had been assessed, recorded and regularly reviewed. People received their medicines as prescribed and their nutritional needs were being met by staff who promoted a healthy, balanced diet.
Staff had been recruited safely and were provided with appropriate training and support to enable them to carry out their roles.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Signed consent was in place.
People and staff spoke highly of the registered manager and their commitment to the service. The staff team had worked hard to make improvements to ensure they were meeting regulations.
A system was in place which was used to monitor the quality and safety of the service. People were regularly asked their views on the service provided and action had been taken when suggestions were made.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (report published 27 March 2020).
Why we inspected
This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service 4 February 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve the recruitment processes and governance systems in place.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Cornforth Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.