Circle of Care

Updated 19 October 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ 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.

Inspection activity started on 31 August 2022 and ended on 01 September 2022. We visited the location’s office on 31 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke with two support workers. We viewed their call monitoring systems, two staff recruitment files and policies and procedures. We spoke to three relatives about people’s experience of using the service. We contacted a healthcare professional for their feedback on the quality of the service. After the site visit, we viewed two care records, including care plans/risk assessments, daily care records and call monitoring logs. We also reviewed quality assurance documents in relation to the management of the service.

Updated 19 October 2022

About the service

Circle of Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care. The service provides support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to two people receiving end of life care.

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

People and relatives told us they felt safe using the service.

People were protected from the risk of abuse or harm because staff knew the action to take should they suspect or witness any abuse. Risks to people were assessed and appropriately managed to ensure people received safe care. Appropriate infection control practices were followed by staff. Learning from incidents was discussed and shared with staff.

Staff were recruited safely. Staffing levels were determined by the level of individual care required for people using the service.

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.

Systems for monitoring the quality of the service were in place and regular audits were carried out. Continuous learning took place to improve the quality of the service provided to people.

The service worked in partnership with other healthcare professionals.

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 at the previous premises was requires improvement (published 4 February 2020).

Why we inspected

This focused inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions, safe and well-led. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.