Vale Care Ltd Also known as 22 Home Pastures, Hose

Vale Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service. The service provides personal care to people living in their own homes or flats. At the time of the inspection there were 18 people using the service. The service was supporting older people, people with physical disabilities and people living with dementia.

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

Infection prevention and control polices, and government guidance was followed so that the risk of spreading infection was reduced. Staff had access to all the personal protective equipment (PPE) they required.

There were sufficient staff available to meet people's needs. The provider had implemented effective contingency planning to ensure people received care and support from a consistent staffing team. Staff had received training in infection prevention and control.

People were supported to stay safe and had their needs met. People we spoke with praised the staff and the service. A relative said, “Everything is 100%, communication is great. I consider myself very lucky to have got a company like that.”

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 requires improvement (published 19 February 2020).

Why we inspected

We undertook this targeted inspection to check on a specific concern we had about infection prevention and control. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains requires improvement.

CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on Warning Notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe section of this report.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Vale Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service. The service provides personal care to people living in their own homes or flats. At the time of the inspection there were 16 people using the service. The service was supporting older people, people with physical disabilities and people living with dementia.

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

People and relatives told us the service was safe. Risks to people had been identified and assessed. Records did not always provide sufficient information and guidance on the measures needed to reduce risks, although staff were knowledgeable about the risks people faced. Improvements were needed to the recording of medicines to evidence that people had received their medicines as prescribed and at the right time. Systems to analyse and share learning from incidents required further development.

The provider had developed audits and checks to check the quality and safety of the services provided. These required further development to ensure systems, processes and records were sufficiently robust and effective in identifying where improvements were required.

People and relatives described experiencing care that was person-centred. However, care plans and records did not always support a personalised approach. Some care plans lacked detailed information that reflected person-centred care and care plans were not always updated in a timely manner to reflect changes in people's needs.

Staff showed a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities of keeping people safe from harm. People received care from consistent, regular staff who had been safely recruited and trained to meet their needs. Staff received a range of training appropriate to their role and people's needs, and were supported to follow best practice by the registered manager.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their life and staff supported them in the least restrict way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service required further development to support this practice.

People and their relatives spoke favourably about staff and the positive and supportive relationships that had developed. They spoke of the caring and compassionate nature of staff who considered their privacy, dignity and independence.

People and relatives were involved in the development of care plans, which enabled staff to provide the care and support each person had agreed was appropriate to them. People’s views about the service were regularly sought to develop the service. Those we spoke with were confident to raise concerns if they needed to.

The leadership of the service promoted a positive culture that was person-centred and inclusive. The provider, registered manager and the staff team showed a desire to improve on the service provided and in turn the quality of the care people received. They worked in partnership with other agencies to ensure people received the best possible outcomes, in line with their wishes and preferences.

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 requires improvement (published on 11 September 2018).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults, and younger disabled adults.

Not everyone using Vale Care Limited receives 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 consider any wider social care provided.

This was the first inspection of the service since they were registered on 10 March 2017. At this inspection we rated the service overall as ‘requires improvements’.

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.

Pre-employment checks had not been carried out before staff worked with vulnerable people. Systems were not in place to ensure staff received appropriate induction, training, supervision and support for their roles.

Governance systems to monitor the quality of care provision was not fully implement or used effectively to drive improvements. Policies and procedures in place were not always followed to protect people’s wellbeing and safety. There were limited opportunities for people who used the service and staff to share their views about the service to influence changes.

Risk assessments were in place to manage risks within people’s lives. Care plans were provided information and guidance about how to meet people’s needs. Information was made available in accessible formats to help people understand the care and support agreed. However, staff did not always have the information they required to provide care that met people’s current needs as their care plans were not always available in people’s homes.

Staff had relied on training completed in their previous employment on topics such as safeguarding and health and safety to keep people safe. The provider had identified another office where staff meetings were held.

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Staff understood how to support people to stay safe.

People’s nutritional needs were met and they were supported with their health care needs when required. The service worked with other organisations to ensure that people received coordinated care and support.

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 and staff team understand the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (MCA) and gained people's consent before providing personal care.

People were encouraged to make decisions about how their care was provided and staff had a good understanding of people's needs and preferences. Staff treated people with kindness, dignity and respect and spent time getting to know them and their specific needs and wishes. Staff worked in a flexible way and took account of people’s backgrounds and lifestyle choices to ensure continuity of care was promoted.

People knew how to raise a concern or to make a complaint. The provider had a complaint policy and procedure and complaints received were investigated.

We found three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.