Background to this inspection
Updated
31 August 2018
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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.
This announced inspection was carried out by an inspector and took place on 14 and 18 June 2018. The provider of the domiciliary care service was given 48hrs notice of the inspection. We do this because in some community based domiciliary care agencies the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or, in some smaller agencies, providing care. We needed to be sure that someone would be in the service location office when we inspected.
Before our inspection, we reviewed information we held about the provider such as statutory notifications that they had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also contacted the health and social care commissioners who monitor the care of people provided with domiciliary support to check if they had information about the quality of the service.
During this inspection we visited the agency office. We met and spoke with the registered manager and development manager for the service. We also spoke with five staff that provided support including a team leader. We looked at the care records for six people that used the service. With their prior agreement we visited three people at home and spoke with seven people on the telephone to find out about their experience of using the service. We also looked at records related to the quality monitoring of the service and the day-to-day management of the service.
Updated
31 August 2018
This was the first comprehensive inspection of SureCare Charnwood and Rushcliffe at their village location near Loughborough since the regulated activity of ‘personal care’ was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
SureCare Charnwood and Rushcliffe provides a domiciliary care support service providing the regulated activity of ‘personal care’ to people living within their own homes in the community. There were 37 people receiving support at home in the villages around Loughborough, as well as in the town itself.
A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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 staff recruitment procedures ensured that appropriate pre-employment checks were completed to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service. There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide people with the support that had been agreed with them.
People’s needs had been assessed prior their service being agreed. There were plans of care in place that been developed to guide staff in providing care in partnership with people who used the service. Their care records contained risk assessments and risk management plans to mitigate the risks to people. These plans provided staff with guidance and information they needed on how to minimise the identified risks.
People received care from staff that had received the right training and support to do the job. People benefitted from a service that was appropriately managed so that they received their service in a timely and reliable way. There were appropriate procedures in place to support people to manage their own medicines as part of an agreed care plan.
Staff were trained in infection control, and supplied with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), such as disposable gloves and aprons, to perform their roles safely.
Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect. People were happy with the way that staff provided their care and support and they said they were encouraged to make decisions about how they wanted their care to be provided. Staff were responsive to people’s changing needs. They were able to demonstrate that they understood what was required of them to provide people with the care they needed to remain living independently in their local community.
People's consent was sought before any care was provided and the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were met. 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 place at the service supported this practice.
Staff had a good understanding of what safeguarding meant and the procedures for reporting abuse. The staff we spoke with were confident that any concerns they raised would be followed up appropriately by the registered manager or other senior staff.
People were cared for by staff that had access to the support, supervision, and training they needed to work effectively in their roles. There was good leadership with regard to the management of the service.
There was an effective system of quality assurance in place which ensured people consistently received a good standard of care and support. People were listened to, their views were acknowledged and acted upon and care and support was delivered in accordance with their assessed needs and their preferences for how they wished to receive their care.
Arrangements were in place for the service to reflect and learn from complaints and incidents to improve safety across the service.
The provider worked in partnership with other agencies and commissioners to ensure that where improvements were needed action was taken. Communication was open and honest, and any improvements identified were worked upon as required.