Updated 16 May 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 team consisted of two inspectors and one Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service, in this case services for older people.
Service and service type:
The service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to adults with a range of care needs.
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 visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service to people who may be out during the day. We needed to be sure that they would be available to speak with us.
Inspection activity started on 28 March 2019 with telephone calls to people who used the service. We visited the office on 29 March 2019 to see the registered manager and staff, and to see care records, policies and procedures, and visited one person in their home.
What we did:
Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service:
• We require providers to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We call this the Provider Information Return (PIR). This information helps support our inspections.
• The law requires providers to notify us of certain events that happen during the running of a service. We reviewed notifications received since the last inspection.
• We reviewed the previous inspection report.
During the inspection:
• We spoke with four people who used the service and one relative.
• We spoke with the registered manager, the business manager, the quality assurance manager and two care staff.
• We looked at the care records of four people.
• We looked at three staff records, including training and recruitment records.
• We looked at other records to do with the management of the service.