25 & 30 November 2015
During a routine inspection
This inspection took place on 25 and 30 November 2015, and it was announced. This was the first inspection at the service since registering with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
AccuroCare West Herts is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support for people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection they were providing a service to approximately 50 people.
The service has a registered manager as required by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.
People told us that they felt safe and were supported by consistent staff who were knowledgeable and skilled. Staff understood their responsibilities with regards to safeguarding people and they had received effective training. There were systems in place to safeguard people from the risk of possible harm.
The service had robust recruitment procedures in place. Staff were competent in their roles and were supported by way of spot checks, supervisions and appraisals. These were consistently completed for all staff and used to improve and give feedback on performance.
People’s needs had been assessed and they had been involved in planning their care and deciding in which way their care was provided. Each person had a detailed care plan which included personalised risk assessments that gave guidance to staff on how individual risks to people could be minimised.
Staff were kind, polite and friendly. They provided care in a courteous manner, treating people with respect. Staff promoted and maintained people’s dignity and provided encouragement to people throughout their support.
There was a clear management structure at the service and people, their relatives and staff knew who to raise concerns to. There was an open culture and senior members of staff were approachable. The provider had an effective process for handling complaints and concerns. These were recorded, investigated, responded to and included actions to prevent recurrence.
Feedback on the service provided was encouraged and action plans had been developed to address any issues raised within audit processes and surveys, with a view to continuously improve the service.