Background to this inspection
Updated
3 February 2021
The inspection
We carried out this focused 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
The inspection team comprised of 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. They conducted telephone interviews with a selection of people using the service and relatives.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides support to adults living in their own homes in the community. At the time of inspection 18 people were using the service.
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, but due to a suspected Covid 19 among a member of the service’s office staff team the inspection visit was then re-arranged for two weeks later than originally planned. The reason for giving the service notice of the inspection was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
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 four people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with sixteen members of staff including the registered manager, assistant manager and care workers. We also contacted the local authority that commissions the service.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five care and medication records. We looked at four staff records in relation to recruitment and staff supervision.
After the inspection –
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
3 February 2021
About the service
Renaissance Personnel Ltd (Kentish Town) provides personal care and support to people living in their own home. There were 18 people using the service and receiving the regulated activity of personal care.
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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People using the service and relatives who we spoke with expressed a good degree of satisfaction and confidence with how the service was run, and not least the caring nature of staff.
Care workers had been recruited safely. They underwent appropriate recruitment checks before they commenced working at the service. Medicines were managed safely, management of medicines was risk assessed and there was training and guidance provided for care workers.
Assessments were carried out to ensure people's needs could be met. Where risks were identified, there was guidance in place for staff to ensure that people were safe. There was evidence of on-going and relevant staff training. People’s nutritional needs were met. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
There were methods of monitoring the quality of the service in place and this had improved since our previous comprehensive inspection. Regular checks and audits had been carried out, for example, in areas related to health and safety, medicines management, infection control and management of care and support.
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 (Report published 29 March 2019).
Why we inspected
We carried out a short notice announced focused inspection of this service on 15 December 2020. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve Regulation 12 HSCA RA Regulations 2014 Safe care and treatment and Regulation 17 HSCA RA Regulations 2014 Good governance.
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, Effective and Well-Led which contain those requirements and recommendations contained in the previous comprehensive inspection report.
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 as the service had addressed the areas of improvement that had previously been required.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Renaissance Personnel 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.