16 September 2015
During a routine inspection
We carried out an announced inspection of Grace Homecare on 16 September 2015. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our visit to make sure the manager or their representative would be available.
Grace Homecare provides personal care services to people in their own homes, with 33 people using the service at the time of our inspection. This was the first time that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) had inspected the service.
The registered provider was also the manager of the service. Registered managers have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was unavailable on the day of the inspection, however we spoke with them after our visit.
Recruitment practices were robust and the registered provider undertook spot checks and asked people for feedback so that they could monitor the safety and effectiveness of the service. People told us that they felt safe receiving care from Grace Homecare and that their privacy and dignity were well respected.
Staff were knowledgeable and received regular training after their induction. They told us that they understood people’s care needs because they were well documented and the registered provider ensured that they were alerted to any changes in these needs.
People told us that they were well supported with food and drink and that staff knew their likes and dislikes. Staff demonstrated good knowledge of how to promote healthy choices.
The registered manager and senior staff demonstrated that they had knowledge of the performance of the service but had not developed sufficiently robust quality assurance systems which enabled them to evidence this in their records. The registered manager told us that they had started work to improve this immediately after our visit.