Archived: Artemis Domiciliary Care Ltd

Artemis Domiciliary Care Limited is a domiciliary care service. The service operates throughout North Cumbria and provides care and support services to people living in their own home. Domiciliary services are available on a 24-hour basis throughout the year. The services provided by the agency include assistance with personal care, social support, help with meals and domestic tasks. In addition, they provide a rapid response service to assist people in low level emergency situations that do not require a 999 emergency services response.

Not everyone using the service receives 'personal care'; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating.

At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care support to 72 people living in and around the city of Carlisle.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Information at the service was not available in various formats. However, it met the communication needs of the current people who used the service.

We have made a recommendation about the implementation of the Accessible Information Standard.

People using the service were safe and protected from the risks of harm or abuse. There were systems in place and staff were familiar with the safeguarding adults process.

Medicines were managed in a safely. The systems and checks that were in place alerted the management team straight away if medicines had not been administered as required.

People using the service were involved in the decisions and planning of their care and support needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported the in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There were sufficient numbers of skilled and trained staff working at the service.

People who used the service told us that the service had good carers that were well-trained and generally arrived on time.

People could comment or raise issues about the service in several ways including formally via a complaints process.

There was a quality assurance system in place at the service. The provider was open to feedback and had developed an action plan to help monitor the service and address aspects of the service that required improving.

There were no breaches of the regulations. The service was meeting all of the relevant fundamental standards.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

Artemis Domiciliary Care operates throughout North Cumbria and provides care and support services to people living in their own home. Domiciliary services are available on a 24-hour basis throughout the year.

The services provided by the agency include assistance with personal care, social support, help with meals and domestic tasks. In addition they provide a rapid response service to assist people in low level emergency situations that do not require a 999 emergency services response.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People told us that staff were caring and that their privacy and dignity were respected. People were treated with kindness and respect.

Care plans were person centred and showed that individual preferences were taken into account. Care plans were subject to regular review to ensure they met people’s changing needs. This meant people received personalised care.

People were supported to maintain their health and to access health services if needed.

Where people were not able to make important decisions about their lives the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were followed to protect their rights.

There were effective management arrangements in place. The registered manager had a good oversight of the service and was aware of areas of practice that needed to be improved. There were systems in place to look at the quality of the service provided including monitoring the performance of staff.

The service had sufficient appropriately recruited staff available to support people. The staff were trained to an appropriate standard and received regular supervision and appraisal. As part of their recruitment process the service carried out background checks on new staff.

Staff were aware of how to identify and report abuse. There were also policies in place that outlined what to do if staff had concerns about the practice of a colleague.

People who required support with eating and drinking received it and had their nutrition and hydration support needs regularly assessed.

The service was commissioned to provide support to some people with their medicines. Where this was the case we saw that medicines were managed appropriately.

Staff knew how to treat people with dignity and respect and were aware how to act appropriately in people’s homes.

Most of the people we spoke to were very satisfied with the service they received. However, one person did tell us about the variations in the standard of care they sometimes experienced. Most of the people we spoke to told us that the care staff were “brilliant”, “do a really good job” and that they “usually get the same team of carers.”

One person told us, “I have a copy of my care plan. The girls always do everything I expect them to do, more sometimes. They are very considerate and think ahead. We have a good routine that is not always chopping and changing.”

Another person said, “It makes a difference who comes in to help me. I get regular staff visiting me. They do everything that’s needed and everything I ask.”

Care staff we spoke to told us that they were “always told” of any changes to the needs of people they supported.

Staff told us about the training and supervisory support they received and how it helped them carry out their job effectively and safely.

One member of staff told us, “I have had better training with Artemis than with any other company I have worked for.”

We found that records were generally well maintained and securely stored, although there were gaps in records relating to risk assessment and helping people with their medication requirements.

We saw that the service had processes in place to help them monitor and assess the quality of the services provided. Most of the people who used this service told us that they were satisfied with the support and service they received from Artemis.