Updated 29 July 2022
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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Inspection team
The inspection team consisted of an inspector and four Expert by Experiences. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This meant they and the provider were legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
At the time of this inspection there was a registered manager in post. They oversaw the running of both the Suffolk and Norfolk offices. They were supported by a manager who was based in the Norfolk branch. This was being operated as a satellite branch and came under the registration of Nobilis-Suffolk. The provider had submitted to CQC an application to register the Norfolk service as a separate location and with a new manager.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or management would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 15 June 2022 when we visited the office. Telephone calls were made offsite to people who used the service, relatives and staff. We had a face to face meeting via Teams with management on 6 July 2022 and ended on 14 July 2022 when we gave feedback.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed our systems and information we held about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made judgements in this report.
During the inspection
We spoke with twenty six people who used the service and sixteen relatives about their experience of Nobilis-Suffolk.
We spoke with the registered manager, the provider’s nominated individual, the manager of the Norfolk branch and seven staff. We received electronic feedback from eight members of staff, two relatives and the local authority commissioning team who work with the service.
We reviewed a range of records which included risk assessments, medication records for ten people and six staff records. We also viewed some of the provider’s policies and procedures, training data, quality assurance records, management monitoring and oversight records.