Archived: Enhanced Care and Bathing Service

Updated 15 November 2016

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.

The inspection took place on 6 and 7 September 2016 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we wanted to make sure the registered manager would be available to support our inspection, or someone who could act on their behalf. The inspection was carried out by two adult social care inspectors and an 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 service. The expert by experience supported the inspection by telephoning people in their own home to gather their experiences of the care and support being provided.

We reviewed information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send us within the required timescale. We also contacted the local authority commissioners for the service, the local safeguarding team, the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and the local Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We spoke with six people who used the service and two relatives. We also spoke with the registered manager who is also the registered provider. We sent an email questionnaire to the two care workers employed by the service, but we did not receive a response. We looked at a range of care records which included the care and medicine records for four people who used the service, recruitment records for three staff, and other documents related to the management of the service.

Updated 15 November 2016

Enhanced Care and Bathing Service is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support to older people in their own homes who have a variety of needs. The service is managed from the provider’s address.

At the time of this inspection 15 people were using the service, nine of whom were receiving support with personal care needs. The total hours of personal care provided were around 40 hours per week. Calls were provided from 0900 to 1700 hrs, with a typical call lasting an hour. The service also provided domestic support and companionship to people, but we did not inspect these aspects of the service as the Care Quality Commission does not regulate these services. This inspection looked at the care and support of those people who received assistance with their personal care.

This inspection took place on 6 and 7 September 2016.This was an announced inspection which meant the provider had prior knowledge that we would be visiting the service. This was because the location provides a domiciliary care service, and we wanted to make sure the manager would be available to support our inspection, or someone who could act on their behalf.

The owner of the company (known as the provider) also held the position of registered manager and managed the service on a day to day basis, in addition to providing care to people who used the service. 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.

The service was last inspected in September 2014 when we found it was not meeting the regulations in relation to maintaining adequate care records and assessing and monitoring service provision. During this inspection we found the provider had breached Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was because the provider's quality monitoring process failed to identify our concerns in relation to care records lacking sufficient detail and individual risk assessments not being reviewed regularly.

Training records showed not all staff training was up to date. Staff had not completed up to date training in infection control and safeguarding.

We found some improvements had been made in assessing and monitoring the quality of the service as staff received regular observations of their competence and people's feedback had been sought.

People told us they felt safe and comfortable with staff, and were happy with the continuity of care they received.

The provider had policies in place to deal with safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents but no events of this type had occurred since the last inspection.

People and relatives told us staff were caring and listened to what people wanted and needed. People said they had positive relationships with care staff. One person said, “They’re lovely girls. I can’t think of anything to make it better. I’m very happy with the service.” Another person told us, “The staff listen to me and are very caring.”

The provider had a ‘service information’ booklet for people who used the service. This included information about how to make a complaint, including the contact details of the provider. People we spoke with said they felt comfortable about contacting the provider at any time to discuss the service.

People and relatives felt the service was well-run. People told us the provider was very approachable.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.