23 August 2017
During a routine inspection
My Homecare Bedford is a domiciliary care service that provides a personal care service to people living in their own home. At the time of our inspection 3 people were using the service. The service’s office is located in a large office complex on the outskirts of Bedford.
A registered manager had been in post since registering the service in 2016. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was present during this inspection.
Staff who had received training about keeping people safe from harm were able to put this knowledge to good effect. Staff knew who they could report any incidents of harm to as well as describing the signs and symptoms should they identify or suspect that harm had occurred. People were assured that any incident of harm would be reported and investigated appropriately. Actions were taken to prevent the potential incidents reoccurring.
Risk assessments were in place to support people with their safety and helped reduce the likelihood of harm to people.
Medicines were administered and managed safely by trained staff whose competency had been assessed. Action had been taken to ensure that the recording of administered medicines was in line with current guidance for the safe management of people’s medicines.
A sufficient number of staff with the necessary skills, qualifications and attitude had been recruited. Staff had the training and support they needed and were able to meet people’s assessed needs.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. The registered manager was aware of what they were required to do should any person lack mental capacity. No one using the service needed to be lawfully deprived of their liberty.
Staff possessed the necessary care skills to identify and support people with their nutritional needs. Staff enabled people to access health care support from external healthcare professionals when required.
People were looked after by staff who provided them with kindness, compassion and respect for their privacy and dignity.
People, their legal representative or relatives were enabled to be involved in identifying, determining and planning the review of their care.
People were supported to be as independent as they wanted to be where this was safe. People were supported in such a way that helped reduce the potential risk of social isolation. Staff with the right skills were matched as far as possible with the people they cared for such as people living with dementia.
An effective system was in place to gather and act upon people’s suggestions and concerns before they became a complaint.
The registered manager was supported by representatives of the provider as well as other registered managers within the My Homecare franchise. Staff had the support mechanisms in place that they needed to fulfil their role effectively.
The registered manager and provider ensured that the appropriate authorities were informed about important events that, by law, they are required to do. People, their relatives and staff were involved and enabled to make suggestions to improve how the service was run. Quality monitoring, audit and assurance processes that were in place were effective. This helped drive continuous improvements in the standard of care that people received.