Background to this inspection
Updated
5 March 2021
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by two inspectors and one assistant inspector.
Service and service type
Atlas Care Services Ltd Bourne is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats and specialist housing.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission at the time of the inspection. However their registration was confirmed shortly after the inspection concluded.This means 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 a short period of notice of the inspection because we needed to be sure that the manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 22 January 2021 and ended on 28 January 2021. We visited the office location on 28 January 2021.
What we did before the inspection
In planning our inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service. This included information shared with us by other organisations including the local authority contract monitoring and adult safeguarding teams. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
During the inspection we spoke with the manager, the provider's Head of Operations & Business Development and the Operations Manager. We also spoke to five members of the care staff team, six service users and three relatives.
We reviewed a range of written records including 10 people's care plans, four staff recruitment files and information relating to the auditing and monitoring of service provision.
After the inspection
We reviewed further information we had requested from the provider, including data relating to call scheduling and staff training.
Updated
5 March 2021
About the service
Atlas Care Services Ltd Bourne is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community and one specialist housing scheme. The service operates in and around the town of Bourne in Lincolnshire.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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. At the time of our inspection, approximately 156 people were receiving a personal care service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe with care staff and the support they received. Risks to people’s safety had been assessed. Management plans were in place and reviewed to ensure they consistently met people’s changing needs.
Recruitment processes had been followed to ensure staff were suitable to work with people who used the service. Staff had completed safeguarding training and knew how to report concerns of potential abuse or poor practice.
People told us staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) and followed good infection prevention and control procedures when they provided care. Sufficient supplies of PPE and access to the national testing programme for COVID-19 were available for staff.
Staff were trained to manage medicines in a safe way. Any issues arising from medicines management had been reported and addressed in a timely manner.
The manager was registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC) shortly after we concluded the inspection process.
People, and the staff who supported them, told us the manager was approachable and they were confident any concerns they had would be addressed.
Systems were in place to monitor the quality of the services provided which included seeking people’s views. A service improvement plan was in place to ensure the service continued to develop and improve.
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 29 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received since the service was first registered with us. These included issues such as the use of PPE early in the pandemic and general practice concerns. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those concerns.
No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them.
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.