22 January 2021
During an inspection looking at part of 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.