Princess Homecare

Updated 30 April 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and three relatives about their experiences of care and support received. We spoke with three members of staff, the assistant manager and the registered manager.

We reviewed two people’s care plans and risk assessments, medicines records, two staff recruitment files, quality monitoring records and COVID-19 risk assessments.

After the inspection

We continued to validate evidence found. We reviewed documents relating to the management of the service such as business continuity plans, training information, health and safety risk assessments and a variety of policies and procedures. We contacted three professionals for their feedback about the service.

Updated 30 April 2022

About the service

Princess Homecare is a small domiciliary care service providing personal care to 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. At the time of our inspection there were five people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Risks to people’s safety had been assessed and plans were in place to mitigate risks identified. These plans were kept under review. Systems were in place to make sure people had their medicines as prescribed and any help needed was recorded in their care plans.

Staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people and knew how to report any concerns. People and their relatives told us they felt safe using this service. There were enough staff available to make sure there were no missed visits. Staff had been recruited safely and received ongoing support from the management team.

Staff tested for COVID-19 when they were working and had plenty of personal protective equipment. Staff had been given guidance on good infection prevention and control safety measures throughout COVID-19. The registered manager kept up to date with changing guidance and cascaded changes to the staff team weekly.

Quality monitoring systems were in place which supported the provider to check quality and safety across the service. People and relatives were able to feedback on care provided in care reviews and with surveys.

Staff worked in partnership with a range of healthcare professionals to make sure people’s health needs were met. The service also had good links with the local authority teams and knew where to go for advice and guidance.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 4 January 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out as part of our inspection schedule.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.