Eminent Domiciliary Care Agency

Eminent Domiciliary Care Agency provides people with support in their own homes. 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. At the time of our inspection 75 people were receiving support from the service, 40 of whom were receiving support with their personal care. The service supported adults with a range of needs including physical health, mental health, learning disabilities and/or autism, and dementia.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support: 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. Staff were aware of people’s needs and provided them with the level of support they required, taking account of any action required to minimise risks to their safety and welfare.

Right Care: Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. The service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. Staff provided people with any support they required with medicines management in a safe way. Staff adhered to infection prevention and control best practice guidance.

Right Culture: The service enabled people and those important to them to worked with staff to develop the service. Staff valued and acted upon people’s views. There were systems in place to engage with people, staff and their relatives to gather their views and feedback about service delivery. People’s quality of life was enhanced by the service’s culture of improvement and inclusivity. There was a programme of spot checks and audits to ensure good quality care was provided that met people’s needs. Where improvements were identified, action was taken to address this.

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 rated good (published 12 December 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

The inspection took place on 2 November 2017 and was announced. This was the first inspection of the service since they registered with the CQC in September 2015.

The service had a registered manager in post. 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.

People were protected from the risk of abuse because the provider had policies and procedures in place and had trained staff on safeguarding adults from abuse. People were provided information on how to report their concerns. Staff understood signs to recognise abuse and how to report suspected abuse. They also knew how to whistle-blow if necessary to protect people.

The service assessed potential risks to people and put management plans in place to mitigate them. People received the care and support they needed from staff. Care visits were covered and there were arrangements in place to manage unplanned staff absences. Staff recruited to work with people underwent checks to ensure they were suitable for their roles.

People received the support from staff to take and manage their medicines safely. The service ensured staff were trained and understood good hygiene and infection control procedures. The service had a system to report incidents. These were reviewed by the registered manager and actions put in place to prevent reoccurrence and to ensure lessons were learned.

The registered manager assessed people’s care needs and devised care plans on how identified needs would be met. People were supported by staff who were trained, skilled and knowledgeable staff. Staff supported people with their nutritional needs.

The service worked with a range of professionals to meet people’s needs. Staff supported people to access healthcare services they required to maintain their health.

Staff and the registered manager understood their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. People consented to their care and the service provided before they were delivered. People told us that staff were compassionate and caring towards them. Staff involved people in day to day decisions about their care. Staff respected people’s dignity and privacy. . People were encouraged to maintain their independence as much as possible.

The service organised and delivered people’s care and support in a way that met their individual needs and requirements. The service was delivered in a flexible way in line with people’s needs. The service supported people with the end of life care in the way they wanted.

People knew how to raise complaints about the service and the registered manager responded in line with their procedure. People were asked for their views about the service. These were used to improve the service.

The service had a registered manager who was experienced and complied with their registration requirements. People, relatives and staff told us the registered manager listened to them. The registered manager carried out checks and audits to monitor service delivery and drive up improvements. The service worked in partnership with other organisations to improve the service.