Carol Spinks Homecare

Updated 26 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 team consisted of one inspector, and one expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using services or cares for someone who lives with dementia.

Service and service type: Carol Spinks Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The agency supports 27 people.

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. We needed to be sure that managers would be available to facilitate the inspection.

Inspection site visit activity started on 18 February 2019 and ended on 22 February 2019. We visited the office location on 18 and 20 February 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. On 22 February 2019, we contacted people who used the service.

What we did: Before the inspection we used information the provider had sent us in the 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 looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public.

During the inspection we contacted and spoke to:

• Seventeen people using the service

• Seven members of staff

We looked at:

• Policy and procedures

• Three people’s care records

• Complaints and compliments

• Two training and personnel records

• Audits and quality assurance reports

Updated 26 March 2019

About the service: Carol Spinks Homecare provides personal care to adults living within their own homes. The service covers Saltash and surrounding rural areas.

People’s experience of using this service:

People and staff told us the service was well managed. People told us how they were treated with kindness and compassion and felt respected.

There were positive working relationships with external professionals. There was a passion for continuous learning and improvement.

People were kept safe and protected from avoidable harm and abuse.

People received personalised care and support, and had their human rights protected. Staff were competent in their roles.

We have made one recommendation about strengthening governance systems.

More information is in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection: Carol Spinks Homecare has not been rated. This is the first rating of the service.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection in line with our inspection schedule for newly registered services. At this inspection we rated the service Good.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good.