All inspections: Direct Health (Coventry)

Direct Health (Coventry) is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care support to people in their own homes. At the time of our visit the agency supported 47 people.

We inspected Direct Health (Coventry) on 20 April 2015. We told the provider we were coming so they could arrange for staff to be available to talk with us about the service.

The service has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. At the time of this inspection the registered manager was on maternity leave. Another manager had been appointed to cover in the registered manager’s absence, and was in the process of applying to register with us.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe with their care workers from Direct Health (Coventry). Care staff were trained in safeguarding people and understood how to protect people from abuse. Checks were carried out prior to staff starting work to ensure their suitability to work with people who used the service.

There were enough suitably trained staff to deliver safe and effective care to people. People told us staff had the right skills and experience to provide them with care and support. Management and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and supported people in line with these principles.

Care plans and risk assessments contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the personalised care people required. Most people said they were involved in their care and were asked for their views and opinions about the service they received.

Most people were happy with the service they received and said they had regular care workers. However some people said they would like more consistency in care workers. People told us they knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. Staff were confident they could raise any concerns or issues with the manager, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through direct feedback from people, returned surveys and a programme of checks and audits.

There were approximately 60 people using the service and 30 care workers employed by the agency at the time of our visit. We spoke with the registered manager, care co-ordinators and two care workers during our visit to the office. Following the office visit we spoke with eight people who used the service or their relative, over the phone.

We looked at the care records for four people who used the service. We were satisfied people were receiving the care they needed and had agreed to. We found care plans provided staff with sufficient information about the care and support people required. People told us care staff stayed long enough to do everything they needed. People said care workers were polite and caring.

We looked at how calls to people were allocated to care workers. We saw people had calls allocated at the same time each day. We found there were sufficient care workers to provide the care and support people required. All the people we spoke with said continuity of care workers was important to them. One person said, 'X has dementia and gets confused easily. There is such a difference in his response when a carer he knows arrives.'

Records showed the agency had systems in place to monitor the care provided and for managing identified risks. People told us they were satisfied with the care they received. One person told us, 'I am very pleased with the way they operate.'

All the records we asked to see were made available to us. We found records in the agency were up to date and securely kept.

Archived: Direct Health (Coventry)

All Inspections

22 April 2015

During a routine inspection

26 September 2013

During a routine inspection