Background to this inspection
Updated
16 July 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.
This inspection took place on 23 & 25 May and was announced.
The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service we needed to be sure that staff would be available to speak with us, and the registered manager or someone in charge would be in.
The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector.
Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the home. This included the Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR 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. We also looked at the statutory notifications and other intelligence which the Care Quality Commission had received about the home.
During the inspection, we spent time with three staff who worked at the service, including the registered manager. We also spoke to three people who use the service by telephone. We attempted to contact more people, however they did not want to speak with us. Some people were in receipt of temporary reablement packages of care from Assured Care.
We looked at the care records for five people using the service, five staff personnel files and records relevant to the quality monitoring of the service.
Updated
16 July 2016
We carried out this inspection of Assured Care on 23 & 25 May 2016. This was an announced inspection. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice that we would be coming as the service provided domiciliary care, and we wanted to be sure someone would be available.
Assured Care Northwest Ltd is a domiciliary care agency in Southport, which provides care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, there were 75 people receiving care in their homes.
There was a registered manager in post. 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.
We found a breach in respect of records regarding how mental capacity assessments were completed which suggested management and staff were unclear about how to apply the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005).
People told us they felt safe with Assured Care. Staff we spoke to had a good knowledge of safeguarding and how to recognise signs of abuse. The provider had procedures in place which would help keep people who used the service safe from harm. We could see these procedures were discussed as part of the induction process.
People who use the service felt staff had the right skills and knowledge to support them do their job.
The provider had risk assessments and care plans in place for people. Those we looked at contained all relevant information about the needs of the person.
People received their medicines as prescribed and safe practices had been followed in the administration and recording of medicines.
People told us there were enough suitably trained staff to meet their individual care needs. Staff were only appointed after a thorough recruitment process.
People confirmed there were enough staff available to meet their call times and durations.
People’s privacy and dignity was upheld.
Staff monitored people’s health and welfare needs and acted on issues identified. People had been referred to healthcare professionals when needed.
Staff were trained and skilled in all mandatory subjects. Staff we spoke with were able to explain their development plans to us in detail and told us they enjoyed the training they received.
Staff said they benefited from regular one to one supervision and appraisal from their manager.
There was a safeguarding and a whistleblowing policy in place, which staff were familiar with.
Quality assurance audits were carried out and feedback was collected regularly from staff, relatives and people using the service. These were analysed and responded too appropriately. We could see the registered manager was using this feedback to continuously improve the service offered. Other quality assurance audits we saw were highly detailed and the registered manager responded appropriately to shortfalls identified within the service provision. Working action plans and target dates for completion were seen.
You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of this report.