Home Instead Senior Care

Updated 8 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 first day of the inspection was carried out by two adult social care inspectors. An expert by experience was also a member of the inspection team. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert by experience who supported this inspection had experience of supporting older people. They contacted people who used the service and relatives by telephone. They did this to gain their views on the service provided. The second day of the inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own accommodation. The service supports people who may live with mental health conditions, dementia or a learning disability. The service also supports older people.

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:

The inspection visit took place on the 14 March 2019. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit because the registered manager provides direct support to people who use the service. We needed to be sure they would be available to speak with us. The inspection site visit activity started on 14 March 2019 and ended on18 March 2019. We visited the office location on the 14 and 18 March 2019 to see the registered manager, senior management team and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before our inspection, we completed our planning tool and reviewed the information we held on the service. We also reviewed notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people who received support and information from members of the public. We contacted the local funding authority and asked them their views on the service provided. We used all information gained to help plan our inspection.

We spoke with 10 people who received support and eight relatives by telephone. We reviewed four care records relating to people who received support. In addition, we viewed a sample of medicine records for people who received medicines. We reviewed documentation relating to health and safety management at the service, training records and three staff personnel files. During the inspection we also spoke with the registered provider, the operations manager, the registered manager and a director. In addition, we spoke with two care co-ordinators and six care staff.

Updated 8 May 2019

About the service: Home Instead Senior Care provides companionship and personal care assistance for people who live in their own homes. The office is based in a commercial park on the outskirts of Blackpool. At the time of the inspection 22 people were receiving support with personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they could not think of any way to improve the service and that it was well-led.

There was an open and transparent culture at the service which was built on positive values, mutual respect and a drive to improve.

Staff took pride in enabling people to stay in their own homes the management team that actively promoted team working and improvement.

The registered provider provided learning resources and best practice information to members of the public. They told us they were passionate about helping people and relatives to live well.

People told us they knew the staff who supported them and they received support when they needed this.

Medicines were managed safely. People were supported to receive their medicines when they needed them.

People were asked to consent to their care and their rights were protected. There were arrangements to ensure people’s mental capacity was assessed if this was required.

People told us they were supported to access medical advice if this was needed.

People said they were involved in developing their care plans. Care records we reviewed reflected this.

People told us they were supported to ensure their nutritional needs were met. Care records documented the support people required.

People were enabled express their views on their experiences of receiving care and support. Changes were made in response to people’s feedback when possible.

People were supported to follow their own interests and pursuits by staff who knew them well and recognised people’s individuality.

Safe recruitment procedures were used and staff told us they received training and supervision to enable them to fulfil their role.

People told us they felt safe with staff and staff told us they would report concerns of abuse or avoidable harm to the registered manager and local safeguarding authorities to protect people.

Rating at last inspection: Good (14 September 2016)

Why we inspected: All services rated as good are re-inspected within 30 months of the Care Quality Commission report being published. This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received and to check the service remained good.

Follow up: The next scheduled inspection will be in keeping with the overall rating. We will continue to monitor information we receive from and about the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive concerning information about the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk