Updated 17 April 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, 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.
Service and service type:
Gable Healthcare Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care, including live-in care, to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to younger and older adults.
Not everyone using the service receives a regulated activity; the Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
The service had a manager registered with CQC who was also the provider. This means the provider is 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 visit because it is small and the provider is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 15 March 2019 and ended on 18 March 2019. We visited the office location on 15 March to see the provider and to review care records and policies and procedures. On 18 March we visited one person in their own home and telephoned people and their relatives to seek their views and experience of the service. We also spoke with staff.
What we did:
We reviewed the information we had about the service which included any notifications that had been sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.
We contacted the health and social care commissioners who monitor the care and support the people receive.
We had not asked the provider to send us a provider Information return (PIR). A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service. This includes what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. However, we gave the provider the opportunity to share any information they felt relevant during the inspection.
During the inspection, we spoke with two people who used the service and three relatives. We also had discussions with five members of staff that included care staff, a care coordinator and the provider.
We looked at the care records of three people who used the service and three staff recruitment records. We also examined records in relation to the management of the service such as quality assurance checks, staff training and supervision records, safeguarding information and accidents and incident information.