Archived: S.A.I Infinity Care

Updated 25 June 2015

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.

The inspection took place on 24 and 25 March 2015 and was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming. We did this because the manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector. Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service which included statutory notifications we had received in the last 12 months and the Provider Information Return (PIR) the manager had sent us. The PIR is a form we ask the provider to complete prior to our visit which gives us some key information about the service, including what the service does well, what they could do better and improvements they plan to make.

During our inspection we spoke with two people, four staff members and the deputy manager and the registered manager. We examined four people’s care plans, four staff files as well as a range of other records about people’s care, staff and how the service was managed. After our inspection we spoke with three more people using the service and one person’s relative.

Updated 25 June 2015

This inspection took place on 24 and 25 March 2015 and was announced. We told the provider two days before our visit that we would be coming.

S.A.I. Infinity Care provides personal care for people in their own homes. This includes older people, people with mental health or learning difficulties, physical health needs and those with specific language or religious needs. The service also supports people to take part in social, education and work activities within the community. At the time of our inspection 20 people were receiving a personal care service and were either privately funded or were helped with the cost of care through direct payments from the local authority. At our last inspection in January 2014 the service was meeting the regulations inspected.

The service had a registered manager in post. 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.

Care was tailored to meet the needs and aspirations of each person using the service and people were complementary about how the service recognised and responded to their needs. Staff knew the people they were supporting well and provided a personalised service for them. People were involved in creating their own care records. These focused on people as individuals and gave clear information for people and staff using easy to read and pictorial information when needed.

The service used creative ways to make sure people were able to communicate with them. This included people whose first language was not English or who were not able to verbally communicate because of their disability or condition. The registered manager and her staff were committed to helping people express their views and feelings and people told us about the innovative ideas used to help staff understand how they would like to be cared for and to recognise the day to day difficulties and obstacles they may face.

Staff were proactive in the ways they engaged with people who used the service to make sure they always felt welcomed and valued. People were encouraged to meet the office staff and to talk about their worries, concerns or improvements that could be made and these were immediately addressed where possible.

Staff thought of new ways to involve people who used the service to be as independent as they wanted to be and encourage them to follow their own activities and interests in the wider community. The service had regular activity days and worked hard to stop people from feeling lonely or isolated.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe and that staff were trustworthy. There were processes in place to help make sure people were protected from the risk of abuse and staff were aware of safeguarding vulnerable adult’s procedures and understood how to safeguard the people they supported.

People were happy with their care and liked the staff that supported them. People told us staff were caring and respectful. People told us they had the same staff to care for them and staff were introduced before they started to work with them. When there were changes to staff people said service would always let them know. Staff explained the methods they used to help maintain people’s privacy and dignity.

The service recruited staff for their caring attitude their values and compassion. Staff were then trained with the knowledge they needed to provide good care. Staff training was up to date and the service followed appropriate recruitment practices.

Any risk that people may face was identified by risk assessments and appropriate management plans were put in place to help keep them safe. Care records and risk assessments were regularly reviewed. Staff supported people to attend appointments and liaised with their GP and other healthcare professionals to help meet their health needs.

People were asked about their food and drink choices and these were recorded in their care records. Staff prepared and cooked meals for people when required and made sure meals observed people’s cultural and religious needs. People were supported to take their medicine when they needed it.

People and their relatives told us they would complain if they needed to, but have never had to. They all knew who the manager was and felt comfortable speaking with her about any problems.

People were contacted regularly to make sure they were happy with the service. Senior staff carried out spot checks to review the quality of the care provided.