Background to this inspection
Updated
10 October 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 two inspectors.
Service and service type:
Access Support Services - SADACCA Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses.
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. At the time of the inspection, the registered manager was not managing the service and was arranging to cancel their registration. The director was managing the service.
Notice of inspection:
This inspection was announced. We gave a short period notice of the inspection because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available to support us with our inspection.
What we did:
Before this inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, which included correspondence we had received and any notifications submitted to us by the service. Statutory notifications are information the registered provider is legally required to send us about significant events that happen within the service. For example, where a person who uses the service has a serious injury. This information helps support our inspections. 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.
We contacted social care commissioners who help arrange and monitor the care of people using domiciliary care services. We also contacted Healthwatch Sheffield. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During this inspection we spoke with one person using the service by telephone. We visited one person, but they were not available to speak with. We spoke with the director and two care staff during our office visit.
We looked at two people's care records. We checked a sample of medication administration records and three staff files, which included recruitment checks. We also looked at other records relating to the management of the service, such as quality assurance documents.
Updated
10 October 2019
About the service:
Access Support Services - SADACCA (Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association) Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older people living in their own home in the community. At time of the inspection the director was managing the service. The service was providing support to two people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found:
At our last inspection we found the director had outsourced all the staffing to another company. The decision to outsource the staffing at the service was not meeting the registered providers 'Statement of Purpose'. At this inspection we found the staff providing the support at the service were now employed by Access Support Services – SADACCA Ltd.
The person we spoke with did not express any concerns or worries about their safety. They were very satisfied with the quality care provided by the service.
We saw the system in place to manage people’s medicines has improved since the last inspection. Medicines were managed safely at the service.
At our last inspection we found people did not have risk assessments in place, to ensure that potential risks to people were managed and minimised. At this inspection we found action had been taken to ensure a risk assessment was undertaken and each person had a care plan in place. However, we saw people’s risk assessments needed to be more person centred. This showed further improvement was required.
There were sufficient staff employed by the service to meet people’s needs. People were supported by staff who knew them well.
Safeguarding procedures were robust and staff understood how to safeguard people.
Systems were in place to make sure managers and staff learnt from events such as incidents, concerns and investigations.
The provider completed pre-employment checks for new staff, to check they were suitable to work at the service. However, we saw staff recruitment records required improvement to ensure all the relevant information was stored in each staff member’s file. We shared this information with the director.
We saw the training provided to staff had improved since the last inspection. We saw staff received a range of training and support relevant to their role. Staff told us they felt fully supported and listened to.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Care workers understood the importance of respecting people’s diverse needs and promoting independence.
The person we spoke with told us staff were respectful and treated them in a caring and supportive way.
Since the last inspection the provider’s complaints procedure had been updated. A copy had been given to each person using the service. The service had not received any complaints since the last inspection.
At our last inspection we found the quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service required improvement. At this inspection we found enough improvement had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation 17.
Rating at last inspection:
At our last inspection in July 2018 the service was rated requires improvement (Supplementary report published 4 October 2018) and we found two breaches of the regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected:
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up:
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.