SureCare Trafford

Updated 11 July 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 provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of two adult social care 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.

Service and service type:

SureCare Trafford is a domiciliary care service providing support and personal care to people in their own homes. The service is required to have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. They and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. At the time of the inspection the service did not have a manager registered with us, although a suitable manager had been recruited and was in the process of registering with us as the manager.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection site visit because this is a small service and we needed to make sure that the appropriate people would be available and to allow time for consent to be obtained for telephone calls.

Inspection site activity started on 4 June 2019 with a visit to the location and ended on 13 June 2019 following telephone calls to people who used the service and staff and after giving feedback to the provider.

What we did before the inspection:

Our planning considered information we held about the service, including information about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as safeguarding. We looked at issues raised in complaints and how the service had responded to them. We sought feedback from the local authority and commissioners of the service.

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 used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection:

We looked at the care plans and assessment records kept for people. We spoke on the telephone to four people using the service and with two relatives to ask about their experience of the service and the care provided. We spoke with three care staff by telephone for their experiences of working for this service.

We also spoke with the directors of the service who were also the manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We also spoke with the care coordinator. We looked at six care records in detail and a selection of other records including quality monitoring records, training records, policies and procedures and recruitment records for the staff employed.

After the inspection:

We continued to seek clarification from the manager to corroborate what we found. This included confirmation of the training staff had completed, the current statement of purpose and information on complaints. This was received, and the information was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 11 July 2019

About the service:

SureCare Trafford is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone using SureCare Trafford receives a regulated activity. The Care Quality Commission only inspects the service being received by people provided with personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. When we inspected the service was being used by 16 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People and relatives told us the service was caring, well-led and the staff knew them well and respected their needs and preferences. People told us they felt they received care in a safe way and that staff were helpful and reliable. We were told that staff were “lovely” and “like mates really”.

There were sufficient numbers of suitably trained and skilled staff working with people to meet their individual needs. Staff had received induction and a range of other training and support to enable them to carry out their work and support people safely. Only staff who had received training in medicine administration could give medicines. We were told, “They’re absolutely competent.”

The service had a thorough recruitment process to help ensure new staff were suitable to work with people in their homes. The provider had safeguarding systems and staff we spoke with were aware of the procedures for keeping people safe and had received training on it.

There were effective systems for assessing and managing risk to help make sure all were kept safe from foreseeable risks. Staff were supplied with personal protective equipment for use to prevent the spread of infections. Staff had received training on infection control.

Care was delivered in a personalised way which was in line with information recorded in people's care plans. People received support to maintain good nutrition and hydration and their healthcare needs were understood and met. We were told, “I feel like they’d respond to anything.”

Procedures were in use for assessing a person's mental capacity in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People and their relatives were aware of how to raise concerns or complaints. Complaints received had been investigated and responded to in line with the provider's procedure.

Staff worked with health and social care professionals to support people and families when people were approaching the end of their lives. People’s spiritual needs and beliefs were explored with them and staff respected these.

People and their relatives were happy with how the service was managed. Care staff told us the management team in the service set high standards. Checks and audits were carried out to determine the quality of the care and people who used the service were asked for their views on service provision.

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

Rating at last inspection: This service was registered with us on 25 June 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected: This inspection was part of our routine scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service and plan to inspect in line with our inspection schedule for those services rated good. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.