Archived: Southover Community Care

Updated 27 July 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 inspection was carried out by one inspector and one expert by experience (ExE). An ExE is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service, in this case older people, some of whom were living with dementia.

Service and service type:

Southover Community Care Limited is a Domiciliary Care Agency. The agency provides care and support for people in their own homes. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates the care provided and this was looked at during the inspection.

The service has a manager registered with the CQC. 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 provider was also the manager of the service

Notice of inspection:

We gave 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that staff, people and relatives would be available to speak with us.

What we did:

The provider submitted a Provider Information Return (PIR) on 13 March 2019. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspection.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included statutory notifications sent to us by the registered manager about events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used this information to decide which areas to focus on during the inspection.

During the inspection we spoke to four members of staff, including the provider who is also the registered manager. We spoke to eight people, six relatives and three professionals. We looked at five people’s care plans, audits and quality assurance reports, records of complaints and compliments and Medicine Administration records (MAR).

Updated 27 July 2019

About the service:

Southover Community Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. The agency provides care, support and personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, care was being provided to 16 older people, some of whom were living with dementia. The agency has strong links to a Christian church and their values are Christian based.

Not everyone using Southover Community Care Limited received a 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 take account of any wider social care provided.

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

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us that they felt safe when staff were in their homes. A person told us, “I feel safe knowing they are here for me. I live home alone so it’s nice knowing they are coming. I feel safe, definitely.” Risks were identified at the outset, were assessed and reviewed. People, relatives and professionals were involved in the review process.

People received support from the same staff except during periods of leave and sickness. People knew who would be coming to support them each day and people and staff got to know each other well. The agency employed enough staff to meet people’s needs and care calls had not been missed.

Staff were recruited safely and demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and the process to follow if they had concerns. Staff were confident about reporting concerns and were aware of the whistleblowing policy.

People were supported to make decisions and to remain independent. Everyone told us that staff had a good understanding of people’s care and support needs. Staff had regular supervision meetings and spot checks. This was done to make sure they continued to provide good care and support for people. Staff knew people well and spoke about them with knowledge and compassion.

People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way. Service policies and procedures supported this. People had access to health and social care professionals and were supported to make and then attend appointments. Some people were supported with food and drink and with medicines.

Everyone we spoke to said that staff were caring and respected people’s wishes. A professional told us, “They take time with people. I’ve never known a service like it.”

Staff knew how to communicate with people who had different needs. They helped them make choices and decisions for themselves. A complaints policy was in place and was easily accessible. People and relatives told us they felt confident if they needed to raise any issue or complain.

People, relatives and professionals told us that the service was well run. A relative said, “We feel 100% confident that they are in good care.” The registered manager was very experienced in working in adult social care. She explained that the service was a not for profit service which meant that they invested any profit into the agency. They said they had the safe care of people at the heart of the service.

Rating at last inspection:

Southover Community Care Limited was rated as good overall and good in all domains at their last inspection. The last report was published on 9 November 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned, comprehensive inspection. The inspection took place in line with CQC scheduling guidelines for adult social care services.

Follow up:

We will review the service in line with our methodology for ‘good’ services.