Care Concern (Homecare) Limited

Updated 24 November 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience undertook telephone interviews with people and relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

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. 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and five relatives of other people to get their views about the service. We also spoke with five staff members including the provider, registered manager, operations manager, a care coordinator and a care worker. We issued questionnaires to staff to obtain their feedback about the service and received 11 completed questionnaires.

We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with another relative. We also emailed and received feedback from four professionals who were involved in the care of people.

Updated 24 November 2021

About the service

Care Concern (Homecare) Limited provides a range of services to people in their own home including personal care. Most of the people who used the service were older people, some of whom were living with the experience of dementia. At the time of our inspection, 33 people were using the service, 26 of whom were receiving personal care and all were paying for their own 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

People told us the staff supported them in a very responsive way and met their individual needs. People told us they received excellent care and the staff always went above and beyond. They were involved in making decisions and developing their own care plans which reflected their needs and their preferences. Care staff were passionate about their work and had the right skills to deliver people’s care in the way they preferred, and which improved their quality of life. People reaching the end of their lives received outstanding care and support from staff.

The service was exceptionally well led. The provider and management team were passionate about providing an outstanding service to people to enable them to live meaningful lives. Their values were shared with the care staff who held strong person-centred values and consistently delivered care that reflected these.

There was an open and positive culture which focused on people who used the service, and this was strongly embedded in every area of the service delivery.

People and relatives thought the staff were very caring and communicated effectively with them. They told us the staff responded to their needs and requests promptly and always treated them with respect and kindness. The staff delivered exceptional care to people and made them feel valued.

People felt safe with the staff who supported them and told us their needs were met in a safe way. Staff received training in safeguarding adults and knew how to recognise signs of abuse and how to report any concerns.

The senior staff and care staff promoted people’s independence while helping them to stay safe. They assessed risks to people’s safety and wellbeing and there were guidelines on how to reduce these. They learned from any incidents or near misses and ensured these were discussed and used to improve service delivery.

People were supported to manage their medicines safely. Staff were observant and responded promptly to any changes in people’s health. They worked closely with other health care professionals to meet people’s health care needs.

People were supported with their nutritional needs and these were met according to people’s choices.

There were enough staff available to meet the needs of people who used the service according to their individual assessed needs. This was flexible according to people’s changing needs. The provider followed safe recruitment practices to ensure that staff were suitable to work with people who used the service.

Staff received training, regular refreshers and had their competencies assessed to help them deliver a high-quality service. Staff told us they felt valued and supported by the management staff and felt confident in their role.

People’s consent was obtained before support began. Where people had difficulty making decisions about their care and support, the provider followed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to ensure people’s rights were protected.

People knew how to make a complaint and felt confident that any concerns would be taken seriously. We saw that concerns were addressed in line with the provider’s policy and procedures.

The provider regularly sought people’s views about the service and where concerns were identified, an action plan was put in place to make the necessary improvements. We saw evidence people were satisfied with the support they received and had no complaints.

There was an effective system of quality assurance. Senior staff undertook regular audits to identify where improvements were needed and took appropriate action to address these.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was outstanding (published 28 June 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor the service and will re-inspect based on the rating of outstanding. We may re-inspect earlier if we receive concerns about the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk