Archived: Premier Care (Midlands) Limited - Worcestershire

Carewatch Wyre Forest is a service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service supports people with a wide range of needs, including those living with physical disabilities, dementia and sensory needs. Twenty nine people were in receipt of care at the time of the inspection.

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 could rely on staff to provide the care planned and were supported by a consistent group of carers. People told us staff were considerate and interested in them. Staff recognised people’s right to independence and supported people to make their own choices. People and relatives told us staff provided care in a respectful way.

People’s safety was promoted by staff who understood how to help them to manage risks they may experience. Staff reflected on people’s care and safety needs and took learning from any concerns, so risks to people were further reduced. People were positive about the way their medicines were managed and said this helped them to remain well.

People felt included in decisions about the care planned with them, which was based on their preferences. People felt empowered to make suggestions about their care as their needs altered. Relatives had complimented staff about the quality of care provided at the end of people’s lives and highlighted how compassionate this had been. Systems were in place to take learning from any complaints.

People said staff knew how to care for them and the care provided was based on their assessed needs. Where people wanted support to access help from other health and social care professionals, and to have enough to eat and drink, staff supported them. People told us this helped them to enjoy the best health possible. 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, relatives and staff were positive about the way the service was led and were asked for their views on how to develop the care provided further. The registered manager and provider checked the quality of the care provided and worked with other organisations to drive through improvements to people’s care.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 01/06/2016).

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.

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

We undertook this inspection on 16 June 2016 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements.

We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our intention to undertake an inspection. This was because the organisation provides a domiciliary care service to people in their homes; we needed to be sure that someone would be available at the office. A registered manager was in charge when we inspected the service. Registered managers are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run. This service was not required to have a registered manager in post. The service supported 39 people with care in their home when we inspected.

People told us they felt safe with staff in their home. People were supported by regular staff that visited them and who they felt safe to be around. Staff understood the signs of abuse and understood that any concerns they had would need to be reported. Staff understood who these concerns could be reported to. The registered manager understood their obligations and ensured staff training on the subject was up to date.

Staff understood people’s health conditions and the associated risks to their health. People were supported by staff that had been employed following recruitment processes that included background checks to assure the registered provider of their suitability to work at the service. People were supported by the correct number of staff and staff attendance at calls was monitored by the registered manager through an electronic call monitoring service. People’s support to take their medicines was also reviewed regularly. Staff were made aware of any changes in how they needed to support people if this was relevant.

People received care from staff who received regular support and training. Staff could attend supervision meetings where they able to discuss areas of people’s care they were unsure of needed guidance on. People were involved in their care so that their consent was obtained and they understood what staff were doing. Staff understood the importance of obtaining a person’s consent and benefitted from training on the subject. People were involved in making choices about the meals and drinks prepared for them. Staff ensured people were given access to drinks and had plenty of fluids.

People’s care needs were updated regularly and people’s preferences were known and understood by staff. People were familiar with staff who regularly attended their calls. People told us this helped them because staff knew how they liked things completed. People’s privacy and dignity were respected in ways that were important and individual to them. People understood they could complain if they needed to and that there was a process for raising complaints. The registered provider had a system for recording and responding to complaints as well as analysing trends in complaints.

People felt comfortable contacting the office and speaking with the management team. They knew some of the people working at the office because staff had either visited them in their home or called to speak with and check they were happy with their care. The registered provider had reviewed and improved systems since the last inspection to ensure people had a positive experience of care. Improving staff satisfaction had also been addressed by the management team. A number of initiatives were being implemented to make reviews of people’s care more rigorous.

At this inspection people reported that they had a positive experience of care. Systems and processes had been improved to make it easier for the management team to monitor, review and update people’s care.