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Archived: Carers Elite Limited

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

53 High Street, Downham Market, Norfolk, PE38 9HF (01366) 380707

Provided and run by:
Carers Elite Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 3 January 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

This inspection was carried out by an inspector and an assistant inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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

This inspection was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice so that we could be sure they were available to meet with us. Inspection activity started on 15 November 2019 and ended on 20 November 2019. We visited the office location on 19 November 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and one relative about the experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager, recruitment manager and care workers. We reviewed the records of three people who used the service. We looked at the recruitment records of three members of staff and the providers staff training records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 3 January 2020

Carers Elite is a domiciliary care service registered to provide personal care. At the time of the inspection the service was providing care to 42 people in their own homes.

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 safe care and felt safe. People were protected from the risks of abuse and risks to people's health and wellbeing were assessed, managed and regularly reviewed. There were enough staff to ensure that people's needs were met safely. Practices were in place to ensure prevention and control of infection protected people. Improvements had been made to ensure that suitable staff were recruited.

People were supported by staff who had relevant training, skills and experience to care for them. Staff worked with other health and social care professionals to achieve good outcomes for people's health and wellbeing. Where needed, staff monitored people’s intake of food and fluids to ensure they remained healthy.

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.

The staff were caring, and we received positive feedback from people and their relatives. People had supportive and meaningful relationships with staff. People received a service which was caring and respectful. People's rights to make their own choices, independence, dignity and privacy were promoted and respected.

People's care was personalised which met their needs, and their preferences were identified and implemented. People had personalised care plans that promoted independence. People were able to freely complain and could be assured their complaints would be taken seriously and dealt with promptly and professionally.

Staff were motivated and enjoyed positive team work, they felt well supported by the registered manager, although some staff felt the registered manager was overworked and needed to delegate more tasks to others. People told us the registered manager was open and approachable. People, staff and relatives felt their views were listened to. The service was proactive and worked on ways to improve.

We have made a recommendation that the registered manager completes their qualification in social care management without further delay.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 23 November 2018) where we identified a breach of regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act Regulations 2014, fit and proper persons employed. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Carers Elite on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.