Background to this inspection
Updated
22 August 2019
The inspection:
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection Team:
This inspection was completed by one inspector.
Service and Service type:
Belong at Home, Crewe is a domiciliary agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection there were 31 people receiving a regulated activity, five lived in the Belong Village site and 26 lived in the community.
At the time of inspection there was no registered manager in post. The provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The service was being managed by an area manager whilst recruitment was in progress.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit because we wanted to be sure the manager would be available.
Inspection site activity was completed on 9 April 2019. Telephone calls were completed on 23 April 2019. We visited the offices on 9 April 2019 to meet with the manager, review care records, policies and procedures. We also completed two home visits with people who received care from the service on the same day.
What we did before the inspection:
Our inspection plan took into account information the provider sent us since they were last inspected in October 2016. We also considered information about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse or serious injuries. We requested information from Cheshire East Council, who had no concerns.
During the inspection:
We reviewed the care records for three people, spoke with the area manager, general manager, an admiral nurse employed by the provider and four members of staff. We reviewed the recruitment records for three staff. We also reviewed the service's policies and procedures, call visit logs, records of incidents, accidents and complaints and the audit and governance records, we spoke with five people, visited three people in their home and spoke with one relative.
Updated
22 August 2019
About the service:
Belong at Home DCA, Crewe, provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection there were 31 people receiving a regulated activity, both on -site in apartments and in the local community.
At the time of inspection there was no registered manager in post. The service were actively recruiting and have appointed a manager who has applied to register.
People's experience of using this service:
A proactive approach to fitness had some exceptional outcomes. The on-site gym facilities had innovative technologies which supported people to improve their health and wellbeing, above and beyond what people expected. People had regained their mobility and independence, lost weight and reduced the need for some medicines or aids as a result.
An experience co-ordinator provided people with opportunities to follow their interests by re-engaging with them and providing support for people to run their own interest groups and activities. In addition, the experience coordinator provided people with support to transition into or out of services gradually.
Without exception, people we spoke with praised the exceptionally kind and caring nature of their staff. People felt valued and respected by staff who promoted their dignity and wellbeing. Staff had received training in equality and diversity and were knowledgeable about protected characteristics identified in the Equality Act 2010. People were encouraged to celebrate their identity. Some people had been supported to attend ‘Silver pride’.
Without exception people praised the quality of the service they received from Belong at Home DCA. People told us they felt safe and were supported by skilled staff who went above and beyond to ensure their needs had been met as they preferred. People praised the way staff actively looked for anything additional they could do during a visit.
End of life care was available from trained staff, the service worked together with community- based health staff and other parts of the organisation, on site, to maximise the potential for people to remain at home if they wished.
The service was well-led, there was a clear commitment to delivering high-quality person-centred care which reflected people's aspirations, hopes and needs. Though there was not a registered manager in post, an area manager had fulfilled this role while the recruitment process was being followed to ensure continuity for the service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at ww.cqc.org.uk
Rating at the last inspection:
The last rating for this service was outstanding. (published October 2016).
Why we inspected:
We carried out this inspection based on the previous rating of the service.
Follow up:
We will continue to review information we receive about the service until we return to visit as part of our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.