Updated 26 July 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. 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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The registered provider was also the registered manager, in day to day control of the service . They are referred to in this report as the ‘registered provider’. Registered providers and managers are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
Inspection activity started on 19 June 2019 and ended on 3 July 2019. We visited the office location on 2 July 2019.
We gave the service notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered provider would be in the office to support the inspection. When we initially rang the registered provider to announce the inspection they told us they were away from the service. We therefore arranged the office visit when they had returned.
What we did before the inspection
Prior to the inspection we gathered and reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Statutory notifications notify us of deaths and other incidents that occur within the service, which enable the Commission to monitor any issues or areas of concern. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
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 on the phone with three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We met with two members of care staff and the registered provider.
We reviewed a range of records, including three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, including staff files and quality audits.