Updated 14 June 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: One inspector and one Expert by Experience carried out this inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert by experience had expertise in care for older people.
Service and service type: This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Most people using the service lived in flats located in an extra care housing scheme at Meadowfield House.
People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support service. Not everyone living at Meadowfield House receives the regulated activity of personal care.
There was a manager in place who was applying to be 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 visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started and ended on 23 May 2019. We visited the office location to see the manager and office staff and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did: Before our inspection we reviewed information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send us within required timescales.
The provider had not been asked to complete a Provider Information Return. 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 spoke with commissioners of the relevant local authorities, the local authority safeguarding team and other professionals who worked with the service to gain their views of the care provided by Meadowfield House.
During our inspection we visited and spoke with nine people in their homes with their permission.
We looked at three care plans, three medicine administration records (MARs) and handover sheets. We spoke with six members of staff, including the manager, the quality assurance manager, a care co-ordinator and three support staff. We looked at two staff files, which included recruitment records. We also looked at records involved with the day to day running of the service.