Archived: Town & Local Care

Updated 3 September 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 8 July 2021 and ended on 20 July 2021. We visited the office location on 8 July 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the registered manager, support workers, care co-ordinator and field care supervisor.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.

Updated 3 September 2021

About the service

Town & Local Care is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. 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. At the time of inspection, the service was providing personal care to 39 people

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

People felt safe when care workers visited. Recruitment checks were carried out before staff were employed and there were enough staff to keep people safe. Most people were very happy with the staffing arrangements although some felt the timing of calls could improve. Systems were in place to identify and manage risks associated with people’s care. The provider checked staff were working in a safe environment. People's medicines were well managed. The service followed safe infection, prevention and control procedures.

Systems and processes for monitoring quality and safety were effective. The management team had identified some audits were overdue and had started taking action to address this. The service had a positive culture that was person centred and involved people and their families. Staff were well supported in their role.

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 good (published 17 October 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

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.