Archived: Solace Community Care Limited

Updated 6 April 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the manager was often out of the office supporting staff. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

We inspected the service on 5 March 2018. The inspection was carried out by 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 a domiciliary care service.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We reviewed information we held about the provider, in particular notifications about incidents, accidents, safeguarding matters and any deaths. An expert by experience spoke with four people who used the service and five relatives to gather their views about the service provided. We also spoke with five care workers, the manager and the care coordinator.

We reviewed a range of documents and records including; four care records for people who used the service, five staff records, as well as a sample of complaints and compliments records and policies and procedures kept by the service.

Updated 6 April 2018

We inspected Solace Community Care Limited on 05 March 2018. This was an announced inspection. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the manager was often out of the office supporting staff. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

At our previous inspection on 4 August 2017 we found the provider was meeting regulations in relation to the outcomes we inspected.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Requires Improvement.

At this inspection, the service was rated Good.

Solace Community Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to mainly older adults. It was providing a service to 32 people at the time of this inspection. Not everyone using Solace Community Care Limited receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

A director of the provider organisation told us they intended to apply for registration, the service had been without a registered manger since June 2016. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and their relatives told us that they were happy with the service. They said they felt safe when care workers supported them with personal care. They reported that they were treated with kindness and compassion and care workers respected their privacy and dignity.

Appropriate support was provided if people needed assistance with medicines.

People said that care workers attended on time and if they were running late or had to be replaced, they were kept informed. The provider employed enough care workers to meet people’s needs and had thorough recruitment checks in place.

Care workers received induction when they first started in their roles and thereafter received refresher training on a yearly basis. Their competency was tested through assessments that were carried out after each training module. Records showed that care workers were up to date with training.

Staff had received training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and understood the importance of asking people for their consent before supporting them with personal care. Where people were not able to consent to their care, the provider worked with relatives and health professionals in people’s best interests to ensure they received appropriate support.

A care co-ordinator completed an assessment of people’s needs, including any risks and the support they required before people began to use the service. Care plans were developed in line with these assessments. Peoples risk and care packages were reviewed regularly.

People told us they were confident if they raised any concerns these would be acted upon.

Although people told us they felt satisfied with the service in general, the lack of a registered manager and continual change in the office based staff meant that some quality assurance checks were not being carried out.