Heronsmere Home Care

Heronsmere Home Care Ltd a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support for people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service provided support for 15 people.

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

The registered manager did not always have effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the service. The registered manager was aware of the need to improve record keeping and acknowledge this was because they spent a large amount of time in the field providing care and support.

The registered manager did not always have effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the service. The registered manager was aware of the need to improve record keeping and acknowledge this was because they spent a large amount of time in the field providing care and support.

Medicines were managed safely. Overall risk assessments provided information to care for people however for 1 person there needed to be more robust information provided to staff to help mitigate risks when providing care. The registered manager took prompt action to address the concerns. There were effective procedures in place to manage infection control. Staff understood how to safeguard people from the risk of harm.

The registered manager did not always have effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the service. The registered manager was aware of the need to improve record keeping and acknowledge this was because they spent a large amount of time in the field providing care and support.

There were enough staff deployed to provide care and support. The registered manager was not always recording staff supervisions. We made a recommendation to the registered manager to review their practice. People were overwhelmingly happy with the care they receive. There was a positive culture amongst the care staff, they told us they felt supported in their roles and thoroughly enjoyed working for the service.

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 10 January 2018.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained good.

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

Recommendations

We recommend the registered manager record supervisions in line with their policy.

Follow up

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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. Heronsmere Home Care is registered to provide a service for people living with dementia, older people, people living with a physical disability and younger adults.

Not everyone using Heronsmere Home Care received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of this inspection Heronsmere Home Care supported 12 people with personal care.

The provider had originally registered this service in June 2015 however, they had subsequently made changes to the registration status which had resulted in a new registration in December 2016.

The provider was also the registered manager for the service. 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.

People felt safe receiving care and support from Heronsmere Home Care. Staff understood how to keep people safe and risks to people's safety and well-being were identified and managed. People's needs were met by sufficient numbers of skilled and experienced staff. The provider operated robust recruitment processes which helped to ensure that staff employed to provide care and support for people were fit to do so. The service did not provide support with people's medicines at the time of this inspection.

Staff received regular one to one supervision from a member of the management team which made them feel supported and valued. People received support they needed to eat and drink sufficient quantities and their health needs were well catered for with appropriate referrals made to health professionals when needed.

People and their relatives complimented the staff team for being kind and caring. Staff were knowledgeable about individuals' care and support needs and preferences and people had been involved in the planning of their care where they were able.

The provider had arrangements to receive feedback from people who used the service, their relatives, external stakeholders and staff members about the services provided. People were confident to raise anything that concerned them with staff or management and were satisfied that they would be listened to.

The provider had developed an open and respectful culture in the service and people, their relatives and the staff team were comfortable to speak with the registered manager if they had a concern. The provider had arrangements to regularly monitor health and safety and the quality of the care and support provided for people who used the service.