Archived: Alina Homecare Horsham

Alina Home Care Horsham is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in a large purpose built extra care housing community on the outskirts of Horsham, and also to those living in their own homes in the surrounding areas. On the day of the inspection the service was supporting 84 people with a range of health and social care needs, such as people with a physical disability, sensory impairment or people living with dementia. Support was tailored according to people’s assessed needs within the context of people’s individual preferences and lifestyles to help people to live and maintain independent lives and remain in their homes. Not everyone using Alina Home Care Horsham receives the 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.

People’s experience of using this service:

People received outstandingly responsive care that met and exceeded their needs, and improved their wellbeing, independence and happiness. Dedicated and enthusiastic staff ensured that people’s daily life was filled with enjoyment, opportunities for meaningful occupation, entertainment and involvement in making friends and reducing social isolation. People’s needs, wishes and aspirations were paramount and at the heart of the service. One person told us, “They have made such a difference to my life. I was not in a good place and they have changed that”.

Staff had received essential training and support, and feedback from people indicated that they knew the best way to care for them in line with their needs and preferences.

People were happy with the care they received, felt relaxed with staff and told us they were treated with kindness. They said they felt safe, were well supported and there were sufficient staff to care for them. One person told us, “I’ve never had any concerns, they treat me very well and do what I need”.

People’s independence was promoted and told us their needs were met. They told us that they had a regular team of care staff who arrived on time and knew them well. One person told us, “They’ve helped me so much, they’ve rebuilt my confidence”.

People felt they were offered choice in the way their care was delivered and that they had no concerns around their dignity and privacy in their own homes being respected. One person told us, “They’re always respectful, I’ve not got any concerns”.

The provider had systems of quality assurance to measure and monitor the standard of the service and drive improvement. These systems also supported people to stay safe by assessing and mitigating risks, ensuring that people were cared for in a person centred way and that the provider learned from any mistakes.

People told us they thought the service was well managed and they received high quality care that met their needs. One person told us, “I’d recommend Alina to anybody, they are really very good”.

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (report published 16 July 2018).

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good.

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

Alina Homecare – Horsham is a domiciliary care agency. It provides care to people living in their own houses and flats. In addition, this service provides care and support to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing in the same building where the service's office is based. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought or rented and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service. The service provides support to younger and older adults, people who were living with a physical disability, mental health illness and dementia. The service was also registered to provide care for children aged 0-18 years of age; although at the time of the inspection no children were receiving a service. On the days of inspection there were 89 people who received support with the regulated activity of personal care.

Alina Homecare provides care at home as well as live-in services for people across the South of England. People can fund their own care or have this publicly funded. Alina Homecare Horsham is part of a group of services owned by the provider, Alina Homecare Limited. The service had a registered manager who had been registered in January 2018. A registered manager is a ‘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 home is run.

At our last inspection on 16 June 2015 we rated the service as ‘Good’. Following our last inspection, the service changed their address and de-registered. Therefore, this inspection is the first comprehensive inspection at the new address and is being treated as a newly registered service. At the inspection on 18 and 19 April 2018 we found that the provider needed to make improvements to some areas of practice. The service was rated as 'Requires Improvement'.

People’s consent was gained on a day-to-day basis and they were involved in their care. People's wishes and preferences were respected and care was person-centred and tailored to their needs. Although the management and staff had an awareness of the legislation that related to gaining people's consent, this had not always been adhered to in practice.

Most people and staff thought that the service was well-led. Comments from people included, “They are running it really well" and “Absolutely first class, very good”. However, some people told us that at times people did not always receive their visits on time or for the required duration. The monitoring and action taken to rectify this had improved, however, still required further embedding in practice. Some people told us that when contacting the office about changes to their care that their requests were not always listened to. These are areas of practice that are in need of improvement.

Most people told us that staff listened to their requests and that their care was adapted to meet their needs. However, some people and relatives did not feel that their feedback or views were listened to or respected. This is an area of practice in need of improvement.

Most people were complimentary about staff’s practice and told us that they had the skills required to meet people’s needs. Staff had access to learning and development that the provider considered essential to their roles. In addition, the provider had recently introduced a training academy that could provide bespoke training for staff when required.

Efforts had been made to gather information about people’s background, their hobbies and interests to provide staff with an insight into people’s lives before they started to use the service. Most staff were introduced to people prior to offering support and people told us that this made them feel comfortable as they knew who to expect once their visits began.

People told us that positive relationships had developed between them and staff and that they took time to get to know them and their preferences. One person told us, “They always come on time and have a cup of tea”. Another person told us, “Alina Homecare staff provide excellent care” A third person told us, “Cannot tell you how satisfied we are. We have one regular carer. She is very kind and has a marvellous sense of humour. My relative loved singing and I often hear the two of them singing whilst she helps my relative to have a shower. She has become a dear friend”.

People were treated with respect, their dignity and privacy maintained. The provider, registered manager and staff provided people with compassionate care and some people told us that they viewed staff as friends.

People told us that they would feel comfortable to raise issues or concerns and that the registered manager was friendly and approachable. Staff were complimentary about the leadership and management of the service. One member of staff told us”, I find them very supportive in the office. [Registered manager] is amazing and has been supportive of me. I love my job”.

It was evident that good quality care and positive experiences were at the heart of the provider’s aims and that these were filtered down through staff and embedded in their practice. There were quality assurance processes to help ensure that people received the quality of service they had a right to expect. When areas of improvement were needed these were identified and action taken. There was good partnership working with external healthcare professionals to ensure best practice and maintain a coordinated approach to care. People’s wishes, abilities and needs were documented and staff were provided with guidance. Staff had a good understanding of the people they supported.

People told us that they felt safe due to the support that they received from staff. Staff had a good understanding of how to safeguard people from abuse and knew what to do if there were concerns about people’s safety. There was a reflective approach to providing care and the provider, registered manager and staff learned from situations to ensure that care continually improved. People were supported to have their medicines safety and on time and were protected from the risk of infection and cross contamination.