Homesdale Domiciliary Care Agency

Updated 15 February 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service.

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 one working days’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we already held about this service. This included details of its registration, previous inspection reports and any notifications of significant events the provider had sent us. We contacted the host local authority to seek their views about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including the registered manager, a care supervisor and a care assistant.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and one person’s medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at medicine records and daily logs they sent us.

Updated 15 February 2020

About the service

Homesdale Domiciliary Care Agency is domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 3 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection. All the people using the service live in an extra care housing complex.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People expressed satisfaction with the care and support they received. This was summed up by one person who said, “We are happy with them.”

The provider had systems in place to protect people from abuse and people told us they felt safe. Risk assessments were in place to help minimise risks people faced. Infection control measures were in operation and the service had procedures about the safe administration of medicines. There were enough staff employed to support people and checks were carried out on staff to verify they were suitable to work in the care sector. Steps were taken to learn lessons if things went wrong.

Assessments of people’s needs were carried out prior to the provision of care to determine if the service was able to meet those needs. Staff undertook regular training and had one to one supervision with their manager. People were supported to eat and drink what they chose. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this.

People told us staff were caring and respectful. Staff had a good understanding of how to support people in a way that promoted their privacy, dignity and independence. The service worked to meet people’s needs in relation to equality and diversity issues.

Care plans were in place which set out how to support people in a personalised manner. People had been involved in planning their care. There was a system in place for responding to complaints and people knew who they could complain to. End of life care plans were in place for people.

People and staff spoke positively about the registered manager, saying they found them to be approachable and easily accessible. Systems were in place for monitoring and reviewing the quality of care and support provided. The provider worked with other agencies to develop knowledge and share best practice.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last

The last rating for this service was good (published 11 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.