Archived: Stay at Home Care Limited

Updated 25 July 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we wanted to be sure that the registered manager and staff were available. This announced inspection site visit took place on 5 July. The inspection team consisted of one inspector. We visited one person in their own home and spoke with two people’s relatives on the telephone to gain their views and experiences.

Prior to the inspection, we looked at previous inspection reports and notifications about important events that had taken place at the service. We also asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We spoke to the registered manager, administrator and two live-in care staff. We viewed several records including four care plans; medicines, complaints and quality assurance policies; three staff recruitment files; staff training records; health and safety records; and quality and monitoring audits.

Updated 25 July 2018

Stay at Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. Stay at Home Care Limited specialises in proving live-in care. At the time of the inspection the service was providing care for four older people including people living with dementia in Kent, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The inspection was carried out on 5 July and was announced. This was the first inspection to the service since it registered with CQC on 4 September 2017.

The service was run by a registered manager who was present at the inspection visit to the office. 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 and relatives told us they trusted staff and felt safe. Staff had received training in how to safeguard people and how to follow the service’s safeguarding to keep people safe.

Assessments of potential risks in the environment and with regards to people’s health and welfare had been carried out and strategies put in place to protect people from avoidable harm.

Comprehensive recruitment checks were in place for new staff. People had their needs met by regular staff who were available in sufficient numbers.

Staff had been trained in the safe management of medicines and followed the provider’s medicines policy.

People’s health and nutritional needs were monitored and people were encouraged to eat and drink to maintain good health.

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.

An induction programme was in place for new staff and there were systems in place to make sure staff training was refreshed on a yearly basis. Staff felt well supported through regular communication with the registered manager.

People were supported by a member of staff who had been matched as compatible. Staff knew people extremely well as they spent their day together and so could quickly respond to any changes in their well-being. People and relatives said staff were kind and caring and that people could make their own choices and decisions.

People's needs were assessed before they were provided with a service and care plans gave guidance to staff about how to care for each person's individual needs and routines. People had a live-in member of staff who continuously supported them for several months and therefore got to know the persons preferences, preferred routines and individual character.

People and relatives knew how to make a complaint but said that they had not needed to.

Feedback was that the service was well- run. The registered manager communicated effectively with staff and family members to monitor people’s health and wellbeing. Staff said they received excellent support and that this helped them to support people in the best way that they could. There were systems in place and being further developed to check that care was responsive and safely delivered.