Tender-Care Services Limited

Updated 4 September 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 one inspector and an 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. Their area of expertise was with older people.

Service and service type

Tender Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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. We needed to be sure that people were informed that we would be contacting them by telephone, and we needed a manager to be available to facilitate this inspection.

Inspection site visit activity started on 18 June 2019 and ended on 28 June 2019. We visited the office location on 18 and 25 June 2019.

What we did before the inspection

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 also spoke with commissioners of the service from the local social services department and clinical commissioning group to obtain their views about the service. We used all of this information to help us plan the inspection.

During the inspection

During the inspection we spoke with nine people and five relatives or friends. We also spoke with the registered manager and four staff. We had emails from five members of staff in response to our enquiries about the service and obtained feedback about the service from one health and social care professional.

We reviewed a range of records including three care plans, five medicines records, two staff files, staff rotas and training records and other information about the management of the service. This included quality assurance records and audits, medicines records and maintenance of equipment.

Updated 4 September 2019

About the service

Tender Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection 58 people were receiving care and support from the service.

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

People received a good standard of care because staff and management put people first.

We saw, and people told us, they received care from staff who knew their needs well, arrived on time and ensured that they felt safe and well cared for.

People were supported by staff who provided flexible, responsive care. Staff recruitment checks were robust and ensured staff were suitable to work with people in a care setting. Staff induction, on-going training and support enabled them to carry out their roles effectively.

People told us they felt listened to and consulted when planning and agreeing what care and support they needed. People were supported to access appropriate healthcare where necessary to maintain their health and wellbeing. Where needed, people received their medication as prescribed.

Risks to people were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm including the prevention of avoidable infections.

People knew how to make a complaint and felt confident they would be listened to if they needed to raise any concerns.

People and staff felt the service was well led. Governance systems and oversight of the service were robust. Issues were identified, and actions taken to address any shortfalls.

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 practice.

The provider had not made statutory notifications as required. The registered manager updated their procedures to include a step by step process for making notifications.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good. (published December 2016)

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.