SOS Home Services

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to any adults who require care and support in their own houses and flats in the community. Not everyone using SOS Home Services receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of inspection, although the service supported approximately 30 people in total, only nine people were receiving personal care in their own homes.

A registered manager was employed at the service by the provider. 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.

At our last inspection on 27 February 2017 the service was rated ‘Requires improvement’. The concerns found related to, people’s rights not being fully met under the basic principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005); lack of staff training in the MCA 2005 and some records had not been kept up to date. At this inspection we found that improvements had been made in all areas.

People felt safe when receiving their support from SOS Home Services and knew who to contact if they had any worries about their safety. Staff had a good knowledge of how to safeguard vulnerable adults from abuse and knew what their responsibilities were within their role.

Risks to individual people and their environment had been identified, with measures in place to reduce the risk and maintain people’s safety. People’s home environment, inside and outside, had been checked for hazards before their support commenced, helping to keep people and staff safe. Many people did not need help from staff to take their medicines, as they managed this themselves or family and friends helped, however some people did. Staff had the training and information necessary to equip them with the skills to safely administer medicines to people.

The provider had robust recruitment processes in place to make sure new staff were suitable to work with people in their own homes. Enough staff were available to be able to run an effective service, responsive to people’s needs. People told us that staff were always on time when visiting and always stayed to support them for the whole time they were allocated. Staff had suitable training at induction when they were new as well as continuing regular updates.

Staff had observational checks while carrying out their role to make sure their practice continued to be safe and of good quality. Staff also had the opportunity to take part in one to one supervision meetings and an annual appraisal, offering constructive support and personal development plans.

People told us they made their own decisions and choices and staff were clear that people were in control of their care and support. The people receiving support from the service at the time of inspection did not require a mental capacity assessment, however, the registered manager understood their responsibilities to uphold the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 should this change.

People were supported with their nutrition and hydration needs where necessary and the support required was clearly documented in their care plan. Although people at the time of inspection looked after their own health care needs or had a family member who helped with this, staff were vigilant in recognising signs of deterioration in health and reported this to the registered manager.

The caring approach of staff was evidenced, people were very positive about the staff who supported them. People had regular staff providing their care and support who had got to know them well, creating confidence and trust. People were given a service user guide at the commencement of their care and support with the information they would need about the service they should expect.

An initial assessment was undertaken of people’s personal care needs so the registered manager could be sure they had the resources and skills available to support people. People had a care plan that detailed the individual support they required as guidance for staff. People, and their families if appropriate, were involved in the process to ensure the support in the care plan expressed how they wanted their care and support to be undertaken. Regular reviews of the care plan took place with the involvement of people and their family members.

How to make a complaint was included in the service user guide, and the people we spoke to and their relatives knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. The provider asked people for their views of the service by asking them to complete a questionnaire once a year. The registered manager also checked that people were happy with their support when care plan reviews were carried out every three months.

All the people we spoke with and their relatives thought the service was well run. People said they were able to contact the management team with any queries they had.

Staff were happy with the support available to them and said that suggestions or concerns were responded to. They found the registered manager and deputy manager approachable and would be happy to raise any concerns with them, confident they would be acted upon.

The registered manager had a quality monitoring system in place to make sure the service provided remained safe and of good quality. A range of auditing processes were undertaken at various intervals. People were asked their views of the service and the registered manager acted on the feedback provided to make improvements to the quality of support to people when necessary.

This inspection took place on the 27 February 2017 and was announced.

A registered manager was present during the inspection. 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.

The registered manager had a quality assurance and monitoring system was in place. However this had not identified areas where improvements were needed. For example, staff had not attended training concerning Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005; a clear induction training programme was not in place for staff who had little or no experience of supporting people living in their own home and people's care plans and daily records were not up to date and some of the information was not clear.

A training programme was in place and staff said they were supported to attend training and keep up to date with their own professional development. Supervision was part of the spot checks and monitoring visits carried out by senior staff and staff said this was a good way of ensuring their practice was appropriate.

Staff demonstrated a clear understanding of people’s needs and explained how they supported people to make choices and have as much control over their lives as possible. People were very positive about the care provided. They said staff were friendly and treated them with respect.

Staff had attended safeguarding training and demonstrated a good understanding of supporting vulnerable people. If they had any concerns they reported them immediately to the registered manager or senior staff, who were on call at weekends and out of office hours. Medicines were managed appropriately, staff had attended training and been assessed before they were able to assist people with medicines.

Environmental risk assessments had been completed to identify any risk in the home and to staff to reduce them as much as possible. These had been discussed and agreed with people, or their relatives if appropriate, as part of the care planning process.