Background to this inspection
Updated
24 July 2021
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection team consisted of one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal and nursing care to people living in their own homes.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to speak with us.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
We spoke with eight people and their relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, the deputy manager, two care co-ordinators and a care worker.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records and their medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment, induction and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We sought written feedback from two health and social care professionals who regularly liaised with the service. We considered their feedback when making our judgements in this report.
Updated
24 July 2021
About the service
Edith Healthcare Ringwood is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal and nursing care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection nine people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care and nursing care from the service. 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 and what we found
Improvements had been made in the recruitment of staff and in the governance systems which monitored how the service recruited staff. There were enough experienced staff to meet people’s needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed and appropriate checks completed to ensure that only suitable staff were employed.
People, relatives and health care professionals spoke positively about the service Edith Healthcare Ringwood provided. People received personalised care which was responsive to their individual needs. Staff had a good understanding of the care and support people needed and provided this with care and compassion.
Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in identifying and reporting any concerns of potential abuse or poor practice. Risks to people were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm including the prevention of avoidable infection.
Staff supported people to take medicines safely. Staff were trained in medicines management and knew how to ensure that people received their medicines on time and as they had been prescribed.
Staff received induction and on-going training and support that enabled them to carry out their roles effectively.
Close working partnerships with other agencies and health professionals had been formed which ensured people received appropriate care and support.
People and relatives knew how to raise any concerns and felt they would be addressed appropriately.
There was a system of ongoing monitoring through audits and spot checks to review the quality of the service provided.
People, staff and relatives expressed confidence in the management team. People felt the service was well led and specifically praised the service given by the registered manager.
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 18 June 2019) where a breach of regulation relating to recruitment was identified. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions, safe and well-led which contain those requirements.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Edith Healthcare Ringwood 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.