Peak Care Homecare

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.

At our last inspection we rated this key question as Requires Improvement and we found that the provider had not followed its own policies and procedures to ensure safe and effective care. That was a breach of regulation 17(1) (Good Governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
At this inspection the rating has changed to Good, and the provider is no longer in breach of Regulations. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.
 

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

The provider had a vision for how they wanted their person-centred home care service to operate. Staff told us they understood how their role helped people to receive person centred care. A staff member told us, “Peak Care Homecare is devoted to providing the best person-centred care, all of our clients are respected and treated as the unique individuals that they are.”

Staff demonstrated a positive, compassionate approach to supporting the people who used their service, despite the recent difficulties caused by the leaving of several colleagues and changes to the rota.

Staff at all levels received training to ensure they understood equality, diversity and human rights, and so they understood the need to prioritise safe, high-quality, and compassionate care.

The provider understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

The provider and their senior care team had the experience, capability, and integrity to ensure the homecare service met people’s needs and that risks were well managed. The provider had effective recruitment processes in place to ensure new staff joining the homecare service were suitable and safe to appoint.

The provider and their senior team were knowledgeable about issues and priorities essential to ensure the quality of services and were alert to any examples of poor culture that may affect the quality of people’s care. A person’s relative told us, “[Person] receives good care and likes all of their care staff, I haven't noticed any problems with the care. We don’t experience problems with staff being late.”
 

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

The provider encouraged staff to raise concerns and promoted the value of doing so. When concerns were raised, the provider investigated sensitively and confidentially.
The provider told us that when something goes wrong, people received a sincere and timely apology and were told about any actions being taken to prevent the same happening again. A staff member told us, “[The Nominated Individual] is nice and friendly I could always go to them if I had any concerns. To answer your question, I would definitely be happy with one of my family members receiving care calls from Peak Care Homecare.”

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them.

The provider had policies and procedures for inclusion and diversity within the workforce. For example, recognising people’s protected characteristics and ensuring appropriate measures were in place to support these. Protected characteristics are a set of nine characteristics that are protected by law to prevent discrimination. For example, discrimination based on age, disability, race, religion or belief, and sexuality.
 

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate.

At our last inspection the provider failed to ensure that effective governance systems were in place. That was a breach of Regulations. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach.
The provider had clear and effective governance, management and accountability arrangements in place. Staff understood their role and responsibilities. The provider and their senior care team were effective at directing the actions, behaviours and performance of staff.
The provider had successfully embedded electronic care record systems to manage the performance of the homecare service, and risks to the quality of the service received by people.
The provider ensured necessary notifications to external agencies, such as the Local Authority safeguarding team and the Care Quality Commission were submitted in a timely manner.
The provider had organised and effective arrangements in place for the availability, integrity and confidentiality of data, records and data management systems. The provider told us they had recently found some important electronic care record information had been erased from their computer system. The provider had therefore swiftly arranged for that data to be professionally and confidentially recovered by an external IT specialist company. The provider used their electronic records and other processes to effectively monitor and improve the quality-of-care people received.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

The provider understood the importance and benefits of working alongside other professionals. The provider confirmed they collaborated with external safeguarding teams in the investigation of serious accidents or incidents. Staff also worked in partnership with external health care professionals and community health services to ensure people received effective care.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people.
The provider had a good understanding of how to make improvement happen and had a continuous improvement plan in place. The plan was used appropriately to track improvements which had been identified by the provider and their senior care team as being needed. The approach was consistent and included confirmation that required improvements had been made.
The provider had processes in place to take effective action and ensure learning happened when things went wrong. For example, the provider had taken swift action to ensure people’s continuity of care was maintained despite a sudden and unexpected reduction in staffing numbers. The provider had immediately reviewed the care rosters to ensure staff were effectively deployed to meet people’s care needs. The success of the provider’s approach was evidenced by the fact most people who received care from Peak Care Homecare told us they had noticed very little disruption in how care was provided to them.
The provider had reflected on how this issue had arisen and the learning they obtained from it was shaping the provider’s approach to how they recruited managers and senior care staff.