Archived: Age UK North West Kent

Updated 7 June 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

Age UK, North West Kent provides is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults. The service has recently extended the support it offers to people,which now includes support to make drinks and snacks, assistance with daily chores and catheter care.

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 service is run and for the quality safety of care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit to ensure that someone was able to facilitate the inspection. The inspection took place on 15 May 2019 and ended on 22 May 2019.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we already held about this service, including details of its registration, previous inspection reports and any notifications of significant incidents the provider had sent us. Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a Provider Information Return. 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.

During the visit to the office we spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and two members of the care team. We looked at three people's care records and the systems the provider had in place to monitor the quality of the service. We looked at staff files including supervision notes. We looked at minutes of meetings the service held. We looked at quality assurance and monitoring systems in place.

After the inspection visit:

On 22 May 2019 we contacted people and relatives by telephone. We spoke with five people who received care from the service and one relative .

Updated 7 June 2019

About the service:

Age UK North West Kent is a domiciliary care service for people who receive personal care in their own home. At the time of our inspection there were 65 people who received personal care from the service. The service had recently introduced a ‘bathing plus’ service which included supporting people to have baths, preparing drinks and light snacks and catheter care. The service also provides a nail clipping service for people.

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

People's experience of using this service:

People said they felt safe with the staff when they received care in their own homes. They said that they were treated kindly and compassionately by the staff. People consented to their care and were supported by staff who were trained to fulfil their roles effectively.

People's needs were assessed and reviewed to ensure care being delivered was up to date and reflective of their needs.

People were supported to express their views and make decisions about their care. People had care plans that provided guidance for staff to provide care that was responsive to people's needs. Care plans were specific and personalised. People were supported to do things they wanted to do.

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and received person-centred care that promoted their dignity and independence. If any risks were identified, then steps had been taken to keep these to a minimum. When there were any incidents and accidents these were recorded, and steps were taken to prevent any re-occurrence. Staff understood how to prevent infection and wore protective equipment when necessary.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide the care people needed and all staff had been recruited safely. People said that staff arrived when they should and stayed the allotted amount of time. People reported that they had not had any missed calls. Staff received the training they needed to look after people in the way that suited them best. Staff received support, guidance and advice from the management team.

Staff communicated effectively with people and with each other to make sure people's needs were met in the way they had chosen. When people were unwell or needed extra support, they were referred to health care professionals and other external agencies.

Staff did not administer prescribed medicines regularly. Occasionally they supported people to apply prescribed creams to their skin. This was done with consent from people and their GP and was recorded.

People told us the service was well managed. Any complaints that were made were managed in the right way and people had been invited to suggest improvements to the service.

People and their relatives gave positive feedback about the service they received. They said the registered manager was approachable and sorted out any issues they had. Staff and people thought highly of the registered manager. Staff knew their roles and were able to tell us about the values and the vision of the service. There were adequate quality assurance measures in place. The service was well linked locally.

People, relatives and staff were encouraged to engage and improve the service. One person said, “You could not get better staff. The girls (staff) are lovely. They never let me down.”

Rating at last inspection:

Good – published on 3 October 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The service remained ‘Good’ overall.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.