All About Home Care (Kent)

All About Homecare is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care and support to adults. It provides a range of services, including personal care, companionship, medication support, meal preparation and domestic assistance. There were 28 people receiving personal care at the time of this inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People continued to benefit from an outstandingly well-led service providing excellent care which was extremely responsive to meeting people's individual needs.

The staff were outstandingly responsive to the needs of people at the service, by providing a wide range of person-centred support and activities in line with people’s wishes. Staff supported people to live as full a life as possible. There were strong community links and people accessed their community regularly supported by the staff.

Everyone we spoke with provided exceptional feedback about how caring and supportive the staff were and so often went the extra mile to ensure people were happy and felt well cared for. The service actively supported people to maintain their independence.

A very person-centred approach had been adopted in the assessing, planning and delivery of people's care and support. Care plans were exceptionally detailed.

Supporting people to live safely in their own homes for as long as possible was central to the provider’s ethos. People were supported to take positive risks, maximising control over their lives. There was a strong, empowering and distinctive approach to safety and risk management.

We received consistent highly positive feedback and praise from health and social care professionals with recent involvement with the service. They told us staff were pro-active in managing people's health and social care needs in a person-centred way.

There were enough staff to provide people with the support they needed, when they needed it. Staff received a comprehensive training package and were provided with on-going support. Appropriate recruitment procedures were in place to help ensure only suitable staff were employed.

People were supported to maintain good health and had access to healthcare services. Staff worked with a range of health professionals to ensure they knew people's care needs. Medicines were managed safely.

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

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was outstanding (published 8 June 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

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

This inspection was carried out on 26 April 2017 and was unannounced. The inspection was carried out by one 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.

There was a manager in post who was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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.

People and their relatives were exceptionally complimentary about the caring nature of the staff and the compassionate values of the service. A health care professional involved with people using the service told us, “The care delivery and support for people and their families is excellent.” Staff were passionate about delivering the caring values of the organisation and they knew the people they supported well. One staff member said, “They allow you the time to spend with people, it’s the best agency I have ever worked for.” Staff and the management team frequently went above and beyond the agreed care contract to provide additional support to people, which they did not charge for, to ensure their comfort, safety and wellbeing.

People received an exceptionally responsive, flexible and person centred service. Their care and support was planned in partnership with them. A person’s relative told us, “The thoughts that went into his care plan went far beyond his physical needs.” We saw many examples where staff had been flexible in the way they supported a person to meet their needs and requests. Staff had gone beyond the agreed care package on many occasions to provide personalised support and to ensure people had the opportunity to do the things they enjoyed. A person’s relative told us, “Every team member is tolerant, open minded, willing and unprejudiced.”

The service was exceptionally well led. The vision and values of the service were person centred and made sure people were always at the heart of the service. The directors of the organisation told us, “Our minimum standard is excellent and our mantra is ‘Every Detail Matters’.” We found that these values were effectively cascaded through the care team and this meant that people received a truly person centred service. There was excellent leadership of the service and effective systems for monitoring and improving the quality of the service. A person’s relative commented, “I cannot commend their leadership highly enough.”

The registered provider demonstrated a strong emphasis on continually striving to improve. The service had developed areas of specialism including the care of people living with dementia. The directors of the service played a key role in raising awareness of dementia in the local community. This included providing dementia awareness sessions to local businesses that people they support may use.

People were supported sensitively at the end of their life. Staff treated people with compassion and worked closely with the hospice to enable them to have a comfortable, dignified and pain free death. A person’s relative told us, “For three months this wonderful team called in four times a day, providing truly exemplary care. They made it possible for our father to pass away at home, surrounded by his family right to the end.”

People told us they felt safe and well cared for using the service. People were protected from abuse and harm and risks to their welfare were assessed and minimised. Staff promoted people's independence and encouraged people to do as much as possible for themselves. People had effective care plans that ensured their health needs were met. They were supported to manage their medicines in a safe way. People were supported to have enough to eat and drink.

There were sufficient numbers of skilled and competent staff to meet people's needs. People and their relatives could be assured that staff were of good character and fit to carry out their duties because robust recruitment procedures were followed. Staff felt valued and supported by the management team. People received effective care from skilled, knowledgeable staff. Staff were encouraged and supported to undertake qualifications relevant to their roles and for their personal development.

People were asked for their consent before care was given and they were supported and enabled to make their own decisions. People's views about the quality and safety of the service they received were sought through a range of means. Feedback provided by people was consistently used to improve the service.