Hillview Care Services Limited

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

The feedback we received from people who use the service and their relatives was positive. Relatives told us staff were kind and worked closely with them to monitor people’s well-being and support needs.

Records relating to people’s care and the management of the service were not always kept or sufficiently comprehensive. Improvement of the provider’s quality assurance systems was needed to ensure they were effective in identifying these recording shortfalls.

We found that people were supported by a small staff team who were familiar with their support needs and management of their medicines. People’s relatives told us staff arrived on time and communicated when they were running late and were confident in the skills of the staff who supported their family member.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities to record and report any concerns of abuse, accidents, incidents and near misses or changes in people’s wellbeing. Staff and people told us the registered manager provided care and was approachable and responded to any concerns.

The provider was reviewing their current systems to help them in delivering good quality care to people. They were open to receiving feedback from people and making improvements to the service.

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 25 February 2021)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about cancellation of care calls by the provider due to staff shortages. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. This inspection was carried out to follow up on these concerns.

Whilst we found no evidence to support these concerns, we did however find some evidence that the provider needed to make further improvements in areas relating to their own quality assurance processes and record keeping.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from Good to Requires Improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to the provider’s quality assurance systems and record keeping at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Hillview Care Services Ltd provides domiciliary care services to 9 people who require care and support in their own homes.

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

People and their relatives were positive about the caring nature and approach of staff. They told us they felt safe when staff visited and were confident that any concerns would be dealt with promptly. Infection prevention procedures had been established within the service. The manager ensured staff had sufficient equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service had employed appropriate numbers of staff to deliver care and support that people required.

Staff were well trained and had the skills to meet people’s needs. People and their relatives told us they were treated with kindness and respect.

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

We had mixed reviews from people and relatives about their experience with Hillview Care Services Ltd. We were told it is a friendly service and the management team were approachable and listened. Staff stated they worked well together and found the new manager was supportive and caring. Two relatives told us they were ‘Fairly satisfied’ and that sometimes care staff struggled with some domestic tasks and that they were not always consistent however after raising these concerns with the registered manager improvements had been made.

This was the first inspection for this newly registered service registered with CQC in April 2019. Each key question has been rated Good and the service is rated Good overall.

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.