Background to this inspection
Updated
29 February 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
The inspection was conducted by one inspector and an Expert 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 personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
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. 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. Inspection activity started on 06 November 2019 and ended on 10 December 2019. We visited the office location on 06 November 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the 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. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with five people who use the service, to ask about the care provided and nine relatives of people who used the service. We also spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, auditing officer, one team leader and seven care assistants and received feedback from the local authority commissioning service and quality improvement team.
We reviewed a range of records. This included 10 people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at nine staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
Updated
29 February 2020
About the service
Awarding Care Ltd service is a domiciliary care service, registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the service was providing personal care to 178 people.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received good care and support from dedicated staff who consistently demonstrated strong caring values that were embedded throughout the service. People, their relatives and external professionals spoke highly about the service.
People felt safe. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities and promoted people’s wellbeing. People’s personal safety was well managed and there was a range of risk assessments in place. Incidents and accidents were fully investigated, and actions were taken to prevent recurrence. Staff followed infection control and prevention procedures. Excellent systems and processes were in place for the safe management of medicines and people received their medicines as prescribed.
People were fully involved in the assessments of their needs and personalisation of their care plans. Care was planned and delivered to meet people’s needs, legislation and best practice guidance.
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.
People and their relatives were included and supported to take decisions about how their needs were met. People’s views and concerns were listened to, people and relatives used a range of ways to give feedback, which the service always acted on.
People were cared for by staff who were safely recruited, well trained and very knowledgeable of the people they supported. Staff were consistently responsive to people’s individual needs and choices. Staff were always kind and compassionate, maintained privacy and treated people with upmost dignity and respect.
The service and staff worked hard to prevent social isolation by giving up their own time, making financial contributions and actively fundraising, to promote well-being, social stimulation, activities and outings, free of charge to people using this service.
Highly effective systems were in place to monitor the quality of the care provided and to promote the continuous improvement of the service. The enthusiasm and commitment of the provider, registered manager and team to develop and improve the service, was evident in their commitment and dedication. The management and staff worked in partnership with external health and social care organisations, building positive relationships to benefit people’s health and wellbeing.
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 Good (published 11 May 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.