Careaid Limited

Updated 23 November 2023

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector and 2 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 service.

Service and service type

Careaid Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the provider a few days’ notice because we needed to ensure they would be available to assist us with the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 11 October and ended on 6 November 2023. We visited the office location on 11 and 13 October 2023 to see the registered manager and to review a range of records related to the service.

We requested a range of further documents related to people’s care and the management of the service that was sent to us by the registered manager between 11 October and 1 November 2023. We made calls to people who used the service, their relatives and care staff between 13 and 27 October 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included any significant incidents that occurred at the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR), which was sent in on 6 December 2022. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed the previous inspection report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records related to 7 people’s care and support. This included people’s care plans, risk assessments and medicines information. We reviewed 7 staff files in relation to recruitment, training and supervision. We reviewed records related to the management of the service, which included safeguarding incidents, complaints, quality assurance records, minutes of staff meetings and a range of policies and procedures.

We spoke with 3 staff members. This included the registered manager and 2 administrators.

We also spoke with a number of care workers, both over the telephone and via email. We asked the registered manager to share a questionnaire with all active care workers to give them an opportunity to provide feedback about their experience of working for the service. In total, we received feedback from 27 care workers.

We contacted 40 people and managed to speak with 16 people and 14 relatives. We also spoke with 4 health and social care professionals who had experience of working with the service.

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found after the inspection. We looked at further records related to people’s care, a training matrix, correspondence with a range of health and social care professionals and further quality assurance records.

We provided formal feedback to the registered manager on 6 November 2023.

Updated 23 November 2023

Careaid Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to younger disabled adults and older people, some living with dementia and with mental health problems.

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 the inspection the provider was supporting 65 people with personal care.

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

People and their relatives were very positive about the kind, respectful and compassionate attitudes of the whole staff team. A person said, “It is a wonderful service, I can’t praise them enough.”

Risks to people’s safety and health conditions were reviewed and assessed, with detailed guidance in place to help staff support them safely. People told us they felt safe when staff were in their home and staff had a good understanding of their health conditions.

The provider spent time with people to understand how they liked to be supported and ensured staff knew the most effective ways of communicating with people.

People and their relatives were fully involved in decisions around agreed levels of care. Care was person-centred, which had positive outcomes for people.

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

People and their relatives were positive about the management of the service and praised the supportive approach of the registered manager and office team.

Where issues were raised, the management team worked closely with people, their families and the relevant health and social care professionals to resolve them. Health and social care professionals told us the provider excelled at managing complex issues and resolving any concerns.

People were supported by staff who felt valued and appreciated in their role and were very positive about the open and fair culture created by the registered manager.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

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 the service was good (published 16 January 2018).

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

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