Archived: Good Oaks Home Care Ringwood

Updated 13 January 2016

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.

This inspection took place on 25 and 26 November 2015. One inspector undertook the inspection.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service; this included incidents they had notified us about. We also contacted the local authority safeguarding and contract monitoring teams to obtain their views.

A Provider Information Return (PIR) had not been requested from the provider. This was because the inspection was brought forward due to some concerns that were raised with us. The PIR 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 visited two people in their homes and spoke with two other people on the telephone. We also spoke with two relatives and spoke with or had contact with four staff. We spoke with the acting manager and one of the company directors. We looked at three people’s care and medicine records. We saw records about how the service was managed. This included three staff recruitment and monitoring records, staff schedules, audits and quality assurance records as well as a wide range of the provider’s policies, procedures and records that related to the management of the service.

Updated 13 January 2016

This inspection was announced and took place on 25 and 26 November 2015. We told the provider one day before our visit that we would be coming to ensure that the people we needed to talk to would be available. This was the first inspection of this service.

Good Oaks Ringwood provides personal care and support to people who live in their own homes. At the time of our inspection they were providing personal care to 24 people.

The service was being led by an acting manager who confirmed that they had applied to be registered with the Commission. 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.

There were systems in place for the management and administration of medicines but we found that these had not always been followed. This meant that people may not always receive their medicines as they were prescribed.

The service did not always assess the risks to the health and safety of the people they provided care to. Where risk assessments had been completed, some identified hazards but no action had been taken to reduce or manage the hazard and some were in need of review because situations had changed.

Staff knew people well and understood their needs. However, care plans were not always sufficiently detailed and up to date to provide information for staff if they did not already know the person they were supporting.

People told us that their care and support needs were met and that staff were kind, caring and respectful. People also said they felt safe and had confidence in the staff.

The provider had implemented satisfactory systems to recruit and train staff in a way that ensured that relevant checks and references were carried out and staff were competent to undertake the tasks required of them.

People knew how to raise concerns and complaints and records showed that these were investigated and responded to. Staff understood how to protect people from possible abuse and how to whistleblow.

There was a clear management structure. People and staff said the manager was approachable and supportive. There were systems in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service. Some of the audits that had been carried out were not fully effective in identifying shortfalls in the service provided. However, the acting manager had identified general concerns in these areas in July 2015 and developed an action plan to address these issues.