Superior Healthcare

Superior Healthcare is a domiciliary care service providing personal care. The service provides support to the whole population, including babies, children and adults with complex health needs including, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, and care at the end of their life. At the time of our inspection, there were 67 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

Feedback about the service was mixed. People told us, in general, the care and nursing staff were, “Excellent”, some people described them as, “Angels”. Concerns had been raised by a relative regarding short notice cover arrangements. The management team had apologised to the relative.

Care staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding adults' procedures.

Medicines were managed safely, and protocols were in place for people who were prescribed ‘as required’ medicines.

There were sufficient numbers of staff to ensure people usually received continuous care from staff they knew. Staff were safely recruited.

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 provider had systems In place to assess risks to people’s health and safety. Care plans were detailed and provided staff with guidance to mitigate risk.

Staff followed infection control procedures, protecting people from the risk of infection. Most people we spoke with said they felt safe with the care and support of staff.

The provider had an effective quality monitoring processes in place.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 4 February 2020). At this inspection the rating has remained good.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about instances of staff being found asleep on duty and management response to complaints. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Superior Healthcare on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Superior Healthcare is a domiciliary care service registered to provide nursing and personal care to people in their own homes. The agency is registered to provide a service to the whole population, including babies, children and adults with complex heath needs including, physical disabilities, sensory impairments and care at the end of their life. At the time of our inspection 50 people were receiving personal care.

Not everyone using the agency received a regulated activity; the Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

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

People and relatives spoke highly of the staff that had worked with them for several years providing consistency and continuity of care. Relatives told us that the nurses and care staff had built trusting relationships with their loved ones and felt like part of their family.

Staff were recruited depending on the skills and experience required to meet the person’s needs. Nurses and care staff were recruited safely. Staff felt supported in their role by the management team who were visible and approachable. Staff felt proud to work for the organisation and were valued in their role.

Staff were trained to meet people’s needs and registered nurses were supported to keep their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Nurses and care staff received continuous support and supervision from the management team.

People’s needs were assessed prior to receiving support from the agency. Care plans were person-centred and informed staff how the person wanted and needed to be supported. The care team worked closely with external health care professionals to promote people’s health.

People were supported to maintain their nutrition and hydration with staff preparing meals and nurses providing people with a specialist diet. Referrals were made to dieticians when concerns were identified about a persons’ eating or drinking.

Staff were caring, and knew people, their preferences, likes and dislikes well. Staff encouraged people to maintain their independence using aids to support this. Staff understood the importance of protecting people privacy whilst promoting their dignity.

Staff worked in partnership with the local hospice team to support people to have a dignified, pain-free death they and their families had chosen.

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.

People’s, staff’s and relatives’ views and feedback were sought and acted on. There was an ethos of continuous improvement were any concerns were acted on to improve the service. Quality assurance questionnaires were sent out to gather further feedback alongside regular reviews. Systems were in place to enable people or relatives to make a complaint.

Systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service people received. Lessons were learnt, and action was taken when any shortfalls were identified.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 24 February 2018). Since this rating was awarded the service has moved premises and re-registered. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating and the timescale for unrated services.

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.