Updated 16 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 carried out by one inspector, one assistant inspector and two experts by experience. The experts by experience had personal experience of caring for someone who used this type of care service.
Service and service type: YS Services Limited trading as Embracing Care is a domiciliary care agency.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 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: This inspection was announced to ensure the registered manager was available to support the process. Inspection site visit activity started on 31 January 2019 and ended on 7 February 2019.
What we did:
Before the inspection: We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This information was used to plan our inspection and was considered when we made judgements in this report.
We contacted professionals involved in caring for people who used the service, including commissioners, safeguarding officers and social workers. We also contacted the local Healthwatch and no concerns had been raised with them about the service. Healthwatch is the local consumer champion for health and social care services. They give consumers a voice by collecting their views, concerns and compliments through their engagement work. Information provided by these professionals was used to inform the inspection.
During the inspection: We spoke with twenty-five people who used the service and ten relatives. We spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, training manager, service development officer, two service managers, a co-ordinator, a warden and seven care staff.
We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and medication administration records (MARs). We looked at four staff personnel files and we reviewed staff training, recruitment and supervision records. We also looked at records related to the management of the service such as accidents and incidents, complaints and compliments, quality audits, surveys and policies.