Updated 7 April 2020
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one Expert by Experience who made telephone calls to people and their families to request feedback. 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 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. The registered manager was not present during the inspection, so we were assisted by the Care Manager who has daily oversight of care delivery.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 72 hours advance notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
Inspection activity started on 20 February 2020 and finished on 9 March 2020. We visited the office location on 20 February 2020 and completed staff calls on 9 March 2020.
During the inspection
We spoke with three people who used the service and five relatives by telephone about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two members of staff including the care manager and one care worker.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment, training and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We received feedback from an additional six relatives via the ‘Share Your Experience’ function on the CQC website. We spoke with an additional three staff members by telephone.