Kimberley Care Limited

Updated 23 October 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and one 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 5 days’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We had planned to inspect on 7 September 2019, but the management team were unavailable. Inspection activity started on 5 September 2019 when we telephoned people and their relatives for feedback and ended on 18 September 2019 when we spoke with some staff members. We visited the office location on 10 September 2019. We also made one home visit to a person when they were having a review of their care plan.

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 sought feedback from health and social care professionals. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 12 people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the provider, registered manager who was also the nominated individual, senior care workers, care workers. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 23 October 2019

About the service

Kimberley Care is a domiciliary care service which was providing personal care to 19 people at the time of the inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

The provider kept people safe by assessing risks and ensuring staff were trained to identify abuse should it happen. Staff were safely recruited and there were sufficient staff to meet the care requirements of people. Medicines were safely managed, and the provider issued staff with PPE to minimise the transfer of infection.

A full assessment of needs took place when peoples care packages began and this was regularly updated as their needs changed. Staff completed an induction and a training package on commencing in post and were supported through supervision and appraisal. Staff supported people with nutrition and the provider signposted people to suitable meal provision. Staff knew the people they cared for well and would alert their GP if they had concerns about their health or wellbeing. The provider was working within the principles of the MCA.

Staff knew people well and had developed positive relationships with people. People were encouraged to participate in their reviews and care planning. Staff supported people to develop their independence, and if possible enabled them to move to less intensive support.

People and their relatives were happy with the flexibility the provider offered with support. Information was provided in the most appropriate way for people and the Accessible Information Standard had been met. People knew how to complain and were happy with outcomes to any concerns they had raised.

We received mixed feedback about people’s care calls, sometimes timings were not exact, and people found this impacted on the rest of their day. Reviews were person centred and the approach taken within them was supportive to people’s needs. A quality assurance questionnaire was issued annually, and feedback was mostly positive. The provider had positive working relationships with local social care professionals however needed to work on some relationships with healthcare professionals.

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.

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 27 January 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kimberley Care Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.