29 January 2018
During a routine inspection
Vantage Care Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of the inspection it was providing a service to 20 people.
There was a registered manager at the service at the time of our inspection. 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People and their relatives told us they felt the service was safe, staff were kind and the care received was good. We found staff had a good understanding of their responsibility with regard to safeguarding adults from abuse.
Risk assessments were in place which provided guidance on how to support people safely. Medicines were managed in a safe manner. There were sufficient numbers of suitable staff employed by the service in order to meet people’s needs. Staff had been recruited safely with appropriate checks on their backgrounds completed.
Person centred support plans were in place and people and their relatives were involved in planning the care and support they received.
Staff undertook training and received regular supervisions to help support them to provide effective care.
Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). MCA is law protecting people who are unable to make decisions for themselves. People who had capacity to consent to their care had indicated their consent by signing consent forms. However, where people lacked capacity to consent to their care the provider had not followed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. We have made a recommendation about following the principles of the MCA.
The provider respected people’s cultural and religious needs when planning and delivering their care. Discussions with staff members showed they respected people’s sexual orientation so that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people could feel accepted and welcomed in the service.
The provider had a complaint procedure in place and people and their relatives knew how to make a complaint.
Staff told us the registered manager was approachable and open. The service had various quality assurance and monitoring mechanisms in place to improve the quality of care delivery.