Cloud 9 Care Limited

Updated 10 May 2019

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 team consisted of one inspector, an assistant inspector and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service and their area of expertise was in older people.

Service and service type:

Cloud 9 Care Limited is a domiciliary care service and is registered to provide personal care to older people and people with physical care needs.

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 visit because the manager 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 11 April 2019 and ended on 16 April 2019. Activities included visiting three people in their own homes, and speaking with people who used the service and their relatives by telephone. Interviewing staff and contacting them by email. We visited the office location on 11 April 2019 to see the manager and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Prior to our inspection we reviewed notifications we received from the service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send us within the required timescale.

Before 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 spoke with 11 people who used the service and four relatives. We interviewed six staff and the registered manager.

We reviewed the care records of three people. We also looked at records relating to the overall quality and safety management of the service, complaints, three staff recruitment files, staff training records and medicines management.

Updated 10 May 2019

About the service: Cloud 9 Care Limited is a domiciliary care service and is registered to provide personal care to older people and people with physical care needs in their own home. The service covers the Colchester and Clacton areas and at the time of our inspection was supporting 67 people with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service: People received care that was person centred and caring. People told us that they would recommend the service and they felt safe. They told us they were supported by a consistent team of staff who knew them well.

Staff were provided with guidance about how risks to people’s wellbeing should be managed and the steps that they needed to take to keep people safe. Incidents and accidents were analysed by the management of the service for patterns or trends.

Staff suitability was checked prior to their employment however we have recommended that car insurance details are clarified further. Staff received training, support and supervision. Staff performance was monitored to ensure that they were working to the standards required.

People were supported to eat and drink in line with their care plan and nutritional needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control over their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There was a complaints policy in place and people’s concerns were investigated. People told us that they felt comfortable raising concerns.

The registered manager was experienced and committed to providing a good quality service. They lead by example and staff told us that they were approachable and helpful.

Systems were in place to audit the quality of care delivered to people and drive improvement. People’s views were key to this process and regular satisfaction surveys on the quality of care were undertaken.

Rating at last inspection: At our last inspection, the service was rated ‘Good’. Our last report was published on 19 October 2016.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor all intelligence received about the service to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.

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