TLC Doncaster

Updated 14 November 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. 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 four inspectors.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 10 October 2019 and ended on 24 October 2019. We visited the office location on 10 October 2019 and made telephone calls to people using the service, their relatives and staff after this visit.

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. We contacted the local authority, to gain their views about services they commission from the provider.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with the registered manager, nominated individual and members of the management team. We reviewed a range of records. This included eight people’s care records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We spoke by telephone with five care staff, 13 people using the service and three people’s relatives. We also received written feedback from one person’s relative and one person using the service.

Updated 14 November 2019

About the service

TLC Homecare Doncaster is a domiciliary care agency providing support for people in their own homes. The service was supporting around 300 people at the time of the inspection.

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

Everyone we spoke with was very positive about the care and support they received. They said they felt safe with the care staff who were kind and caring and always asked what people would like them to do at each visit.

Support visits were not missed, and staff stayed the full length of the call unless people told them they didn’t need to stay. Some people told us that on occasion calls might not be at the pre-arranged time, but said this was mostly when regular care staff were on holiday and changes to rotas had been made to accommodate this.

One person told us: “The carers are great, they arrive on time and have never missed a call.” “I am very satisfied with the support I get from the girls.” A person’s relative said: “They are all lovely and very caring with [my relative].” They told us they believed the staff must be very well trained because they know exactly what to do. They said they wouldn’t want to change anything and would recommend this service to others.

The registered manager and care staff were approachable, and people felt able to raise any concerns directly with them. Staff said they felt well supported and received the training they needed for their role. Staff were safely recruited.

Care plans and risk assessments were in place to identify the support people wanted. People and relatives were involved in agreeing and reviewing their care plans.

Staff received an in depth induction and regular, ongoing training to enable them to undertake their roles. Staff told us they found the training to be useful and informative.

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.

The registered manager and wider management team had oversight of the service through regular contact with people, their families and staff to gain feedback on the service. Care plans were reviewed regularly to ensure they met people’s needs, and spot checks were formally recorded with staff. Daily records were reviewed by the management team.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update:

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 26 October 2018) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.