21 May 2018
During a routine inspection
The service has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 200 and associated regulations about how the service is run.
At our last inspection in March 2017 we found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulation 2014 and a further breach of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009. At the last inspection we found that medicine administration records were not always filled in correctly. We also found that the CQC had not been notified of incidents which affected the service. At this inspection we found that Simply Caring was meeting both these regulations.
The registered manager and staff understood their role and responsibilities to keep people safe from harm. Risks were assessed and plans put in place to keep people safe. Checks were carried out on staff to assess their suitability to work with vulnerable people.
People needed minimal support and prompting with their medicines and support was managed safely. Any risks to people were identified and managed in order to keep people safe.
The service was responsive and people received individualised care and support. People were encouraged to make their views known and the service responded by making changes. The registered manager welcomed comments and complaints and saw them as an opportunity to improve the care provided.
The registered manager and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and worked to ensure people's rights were respected.
Staff were recruited safely and there were enough staff to make sure people had the care and support they needed.
People and relatives knew how to complain and raise any concerns. People and their relatives did not raise any concerns with us.
People were cared for by staff who knew them well. Staff treated people with dignity and respect. Efforts were made to ensure staff members were able to communicate with people using their preferred language. The manager and staff had a good understanding of equality, diversity and human rights.
The culture within the service was personalised and open. There was a clear management structure and staff felt well supported and listened to.
The vision and values of the service were clearly communicated to and understood by staff. A quality assurance system was in place. This meant the quality of service people received was monitored on a regular basis and where shortfalls were identified they were acted on.
Simply Caring had a comprehensive business continuity plan in place to prepare the service in case of unforeseen circumstances and emergencies.