Archived: Giles Care Ltd

Updated 13 March 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type:

Giles Care is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to adults who may be living with mental health needs.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Inspection site visit activity started on 19 February 2019 and ended on that day. It included visiting people in their own homes. We visited the office location on 19 February 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give key information about the service, what the service does well and the improvements they plan to make. We used this information to plan our inspection.

We spoke with the two people who were happy to meet with us. We spoke with the registered manager, provider, senior team leader and two care staff. We observed staff spending time with people and their interactions.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records, three recruitment records, supervision and training records of all staff. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 13 March 2019

About the service:

Giles Care 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 adults with mental health needs. At the time of the inspection the agency was supporting 24 people, only 15 were receiving personal care. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with personal care, where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using the service:

People told us they felt safe and supported by staff in the way they preferred. Potential risks to their health and welfare had been assessed and there was guidance in place for staff to mitigate the risks. Checks and audits were completed to make sure people received a high standard of support. People and staff were asked their opinion on the quality of the service and suggestions for improvements.

People’s needs were assessed before they started using the service. People were involved in developing their support plan and asked their opinion about the quality of the service. People were supported by staff who were passionate about supporting people to live their life fully and preventing discrimination relating to their religion or sexuality. Staff supported people to become more independent and develop their life skills and activities. People were encouraged to lead healthier lives and keep as active as possible. Staff supported people to attend healthcare appointments and express their views about their support.

People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely, received training appropriate to their role and received supervision to develop their skills. Incidents had been recorded and analysed to identify how to keep people as safe as possible. People told us they knew how to complain and raise any issues they may have and these had been resolved to their satisfaction. The management team worked well with other agencies and continued their learning to ensure people were supported effectively.

Rating at the last inspection:

Requires Improvement (report published 28 February 2018).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. We found the service now met the characteristics of Good in all areas. The overall rating is now Good.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service.