Archived: Risborough Carers Ltd

Updated 14 November 2018

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, 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, an assistant inspector 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:

Risborough Carers Ltd are a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. There was 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.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure the management would be in the office. We visited the office location on 11 October 2018 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.

We contacted 12 people and 5 relatives to gather their views about the support received. During the office site visit we looked at records, which included five people’s care and medicines records. We checked recruitment, training and supervision records for four staff. We also looked at a range of records about how the service was managed. We also spoke with the director, the registered manager and three care staff.

After our site visit we contacted number of external health and social care professionals and commissioners to obtain their views about the service.

Updated 14 November 2018

What life is like for people using this service:

People continued to receive an excellent, caring and compassionate support from kind and committed staff. The extremely caring nature of the service was sustained as a result of the well-established provider and the fact this is their family run business set up 27 years ago. The management led by example and successfully created a stable, loyal and reliable team.

People’s continued to be extremely complimentary about the support they had and about meaningful relationships they were able to form with the staff. People referred to staff as ‘friends’ and staff referred to working together ‘like a family’.

Staff continued to exceed in recognising what was important to people and ensured individually tailored approach that met people’s personal needs, wishes and choices was delivered. There was evidence the staff often went ‘the extra mile’ to meet people’s needs.

The staff discussed with people and helped people explore their needs and preferences in relation to support received and all people told us they were a driving force behind any decisions about their care. Staff excelled at respecting people’s privacy and dignity. People were supported to be as independent as possible, which was in line with their goals and outcomes that stated people wished to remain at their own homes for as long as possible.

All people and relatives, without an exception said they would definitely recommend this service to family and friends.

The provider ensured people received safe care and treatment. People complimented the continuity of care provided by regular, skilled and competent staff which contributed to building meaningful relationships. People continued to receive their medicines safely and as prescribed. Risks to people’s well-being and safety were assessed, recorded and updated when people’s circumstances changed. The registered manager ensured any lessons learnt were reflected on to improve the service further.

People received personalised approach that met their needs and the service remained flexible to people’s changing needs. People’s rights to make own decisions were respected. People remained well supported to maintain good diet and access health services if needed.

The service remained well-led. The provider’s quality assurance processes were effective and there was a focus on continuous improvement. People, staff and relatives were involved and listened to. The service worked well in partnership with other agencies, social and health professionals and external organisations.

More information is in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 21 April 2016).

About the service:

Risborough Carers Ltd are a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of our inspection the service supported 84 people of which 57 received personal care as the regulated activity.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

We will monitor all intelligence received about the service to inform the assessment of the risk profile of the service and to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.