Updated 30 April 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:
An adult social care inspector undertook the inspection. A British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter was used to enable the inspector to communicate with people who used the service and staff. A BSL English interpreter assists a sign language user and a hearing person to communicate.
Service and service type:
Communication Independence Limited is registered as a domiciliary care agency to provide personal care supporting people have a hearing and/or a visual impairment or have combined sight and hearing loss and who may also have other support needs, such as physical disabilities, learning difficulties and/or needs relating to their mental health. Not everyone using Communication Independence Limited receives the regulated activity, personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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.
The service had a manager registered with CQC. 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 and office visits because the service is small, and we wanted to ensure the nominated individual, or the registered manager would be available. We also wanted to arrange to visit some people using the service in their own home.
Inspection site visit activity started on 7 March 2019 and ended on 8 March 2019.
What we did:
We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
Prior to the inspection visit we gathered information from many sources. We looked at the information received about the service from notifications sent to CQC by the registered manager. We also spoke with the local authority commissioners, contracts officers and safeguarding and Healthwatch (Sheffield). Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.
On the 7 March 2019 we visited the office location to see the nominated individual, the registered manager and three care workers. We also reviewed two care records, policies and procedures, audits and quality assurance reports, and records of accidents, incidents and complaints,
On the 8 March 2019 we visited two people in their homes to obtain their views about the care they received and to look at their care records. We spoke to two people who used the service, one relative and two care workers.