Archived: 24hr Care Services Limited

Updated 16 March 2019

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 was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

24hr Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care service and provides personal care to people living in the community.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that 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 because it is small and the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Telephone calls to people who used the service and their relatives were completed on 20 February. We visited the office location on 21 February 2019.

What we did:

Before the inspection we asked the provider to send us their Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed information that we held about the service such as notifications. These are events that happen in the service that the provider is required to tell us about.

At the provider's office we spoke with the registered manager who was also the registered provider and two care staff. We reviewed the care records for three people who used the service. We also looked at a range of other records relating to the running of the service such as policies and procedures, complaints, staff files and the staff training plan. We also spoke with the registered manager about the action they took to check on quality and safety.

Updated 16 March 2019

About the service:

24hr Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older people, including people living with dementia, and people with sensory needs and physical disabilities living in their own homes. Not everyone using the service received the regulated activity of personal care. 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. At the time of our inspection five people were receiving personal care as part of their care package.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff understood their role and responsibilities in keeping people safe, they had received safeguarding training and had a safeguarding policy and procedure to inform their practice. Robust staff recruitment checks were completed before staff commenced. Risks associated with people’s needs including the environment had been assessed and staff had guidance of the care people required to reduce any risks.

Where people required support with their prescribed medicines, staff provided safe care by following nationally recognised best practice guidance. This included receiving medicines training and the registered manager completed competency assessments, to check people received safe support. People were protected from the risk of cross contamination because staff followed nationally recognised infection control practice. This included using disposable gloves and aprons and they had completed relevant infection control training, including food hygiene.

Staff received an induction on commencement of their employment, this included shadowing the registered manager in the delivery of care. This gave people the opportunity to meet staff before they provided care independently. Staff received ongoing training and support from the registered manager, this included competency assessments to ensure staff provided safe and effective care.

People told us staff arrived on time and stayed for the duration of the call, if staff were running late they were informed of this. People had not experienced any missed or calls later than the timeframe staff were expected.

People were very complimentary of the staff who supported them, they felt staff were unrushed and provided care in a way that met their individual needs, routines and preferences. People were fully involved in decisions about how they received their care. Staff treated people with respect, dignity and encouraged independence.

People were protected from the risk of discrimination because their diverse needs had been discussed with them. Staff had guidance on how to meet people’s needs and achieve positive outcomes. People had been provided with advocacy information and how to make a complaint.

The registered manager had policies and procedures that reflected current legislation and this supported staff in providing effective care. 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 had developed positive links with external professionals and strived to continually develop the service, based on best practice guidance. People who used the service, relatives and staff received opportunities to be involved in the development of the service by receiving opportunities to share their views and experience. Feedback from people, relatives and an external professional was very positive and complimentary about the care provided.

The service met the characteristics of Good for all key questions.

Rating at last inspection:

This is the provider’s first rated inspection since registration.

Why we inspected:

This is a scheduled inspection based on the provider’s registration date.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit at the next scheduled inspection. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.