Firstchoice Consultancy Ltd

Updated 17 March 2018

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 the 19 February 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we already held about this service. This included details of its registration, previous inspection reports and notifications of any significant events the provider had sent us. Prior to the inspection, the provider 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. We contacted the local authority with responsibility for commissioning care from the service to seek their views.

During the inspection we spoke with three staff, including the registered manager, the administrator and a support worker. We were unable to speak with people who used the service or their relatives. We looked at the care records for one person including their care plans and risk assessment. We reviewed the recruitment and training records for one member of staff. We checked various policies and procedures and examined the quality assurance and monitoring systems used by the service.

Updated 17 March 2018

This inspection took place on the 19 February 2018 and was announced. At the previous inspection of this service on 1 June 2016 we found two breaches of regulations. This was because care plans were not sufficiently detailed and quality assurance and monitoring systems were not effective.

Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to improve the key questions of responsive and well-led to at least good. We found the service had taken appropriate action to achieve this and breaches of regulations ad been addressed.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to younger disabled adults. One person was using the service at the time of our inspection.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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.

Appropriate safeguarding procedures were in place. Risk assessments provided information about how to support people in a safe manner. Staff had a good understanding about infection control issues and used protective clothing to help prevent the spread of infection. Lessons were learnt when accidents or incidents occurred to help improve the service. Robust staff recruitment practices were in place and there were enough staff to meet people’s needs.

People’s needs were assessed before they began using the service. Staff received training and supervision to support them in their role. People were able to make choices for themselves where they had the capacity to do so and the service operated in line the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Staff had a good understanding of how to promote people’s privacy, independence and dignity.

Care plans were in place which set out how to meet people’s individual needs and these were subject to review. The service had a complaints procedure and end of life care procedures in place.

Staff spoke positively about the registered manager. The service had systems in place for seeking the views of people on the running of the service and quality assurance systems were operated effectively. Auditing systems were in place to check records.