Background to this inspection
Updated
22 May 2019
The inspection:
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 was carried out by one inspector, one assistant inspector and two experts 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.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency, it provides the regulated activity of personal care to people living in their own homes.
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 as we needed to ensure that staff were available to support the inspection.
Inspection site visit activity started on 08 April 2019 and ended on 09 April 2019. We visited the office location on both dates to see the registered manager, office staff and care staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We telephoned people who use the service on 08 and 09 April 2019 to ask them about their experiences of using the service.
What we did:
When planning our inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service. This included the Provider Information Return (PIR), notifications received from the provider about deaths, safeguarding alerts and serious injuries, which they are required to send us by law. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We also asked stakeholders, such as the local authority safeguarding team and commissioners, for their views of the service.
During the inspection we spoke with 25 people and 20 relatives to ask their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the area manager, the registered manager, three care coordinators and 15 care staff. We used this information to form part of our judgement.
We sampled 15 people's care records to see how their care and treatment was planned and delivered. Other records looked at included three recruitment files to check suitable staff members were recruited and received appropriate training. We also sampled records relating to the management of the service along with a selection of the provider's policies and procedures, to ensure people received a good quality service.
Details are in the 'Key Questions' below
Updated
22 May 2019
About the service:
¿Sevacare Birmingham Central is a domiciliary care provider supporting people in their own homes. Not everyone using Sevacare Birmingham Central receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 252 people who were supported with the regulated activity of personal care.
¿ Following a visit from the local authority commissioners to the service in October 2018, the local authority stopped referring people to the service because improvements were required. The provider is currently working with the commissioners to make those improvements.
¿ At this inspection we found some improvements had been made. The service has improved in the key question of effective and caring which we now rate as good. Improvements have also been made under safe, responsive and well led, however, further improvements were needed and the ratings remain as ‘requires improvement.’ The provider has met the regulations.
People’s experience of using this service:
¿ People told us they had not experienced missed calls following the last inspection. However, people told us the timings of their calls were inconsistent.
¿ People told us that they felt safe when the staff were in their home with them and the provider had ensured that systems were in place to protect people from the risk of abuse.
¿ Risk assessments were in place to minimise any potential risk to people's wellbeing.
¿ People considered staff to have the correct skills to support them with effective care.
¿ Where the staff supported people to eat and drink and with their healthcare needs, this had been done to people's satisfaction.
¿ People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the provider’s policies and systems supported this in practice.
¿ People told us staff treated them with dignity and respect whilst providing them with care and support.
¿ People told us they made decisions about the care and support they needed.
¿ People did not always receive care that consistently met their needs and preferences. This was particularly in relation to the times they received their care visits.
¿ People and their relatives knew who to speak with if they had any complaints or issues to raise.
¿ The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of care. However, these were not always effective.
¿ People and relatives said the management of the service had improved since the last inspection.
Rating at last inspection: At the last inspection the service was rated Requires Improvement (Published 24 November 2018).
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection which took place on 08 and 09 April 2019. At the last inspection the service was not meeting the regulations and they were required to send us an action plan.
Enforcement: After our inspection in October 2018 we served a Warning Notice to the registered provider which required them to be compliant with Regulation 12: Safe care and treatment by 18 December 2018. A Warning Notice is one of our enforcement powers.
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.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk