Updated 6 April 2023
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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector and an assistant inspector made phone calls following site visits.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats at a retirement village.
Registered Manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post who was the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. A new manager had been employed to take over the day to day running of the service for the last six months. This manager was currently going through registration with CQC.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ 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.
Inspection activity started on 22 March 2023 and ended on 27 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 22 and 24 March 2023.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since it registered. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with 4 people and 5 staff during the inspection. This includes the nominated individual, the manager and care staff. We spoke with 3 relatives on the telephone after the site visits. We looked at a range of records the provider used to run the service. This included 3 people’s care records, recruitment records, audits, training records and policies.