Family Support Care Limited

Updated 27 February 2021

The inspection

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 completed by one inspector and an Expert by Experience who contacted people receiving the support.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission who was also the provider. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service a week’s notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We visited the office location on 28 January 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had requested from the service in relation to quality assurance systems and care records. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return (PIR) 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. An Expert by Experience telephoned nine people receiving the support to gather their views and we had feedback from seven staff.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager and we reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff support. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including incidents, complaints and samples of policies were also viewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 27 February 2021

About the service

Family Support Care Limited, referred to as Family Support in this report is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in Swindon and the surrounding areas. At the time of our inspection the service supported ten people. 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 received safe care from consistent staff and said they were safe receiving care from the service. There were procedures in place that guided staff how to identify and report safeguarding concerns. The provider ensured there was enough staff to keep people safe and people complimented staff’s punctuality.

Staff followed good practice guidance around infection control and people confirmed staff wore protective personal equipment, such as masks and gloves. The provider used lessons learnt principles to reflect where things could be improved.

People were supported to have choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the procedures in the service supported this practice. People had good support to maintain their nutritional and healthcare needs.

Risks to people's safety and well-being were managed and known to staff. Medicines were managed safely, and people received their medicines as prescribed. We made a recommendation that the provider refers to good practice guidance when formulating people’s care plans surrounding medicine management.

We received positive feedback from people and their relatives. They said staff were kind and caring, some of the terms used to describe staff included ‘delightful’ and ‘wonderful’. Staff appreciated people’s individual needs and diversity. People received support that met their needs, this included their social and communication needs.

There was a registered manager who was also the provider and they were committed to improving people’s care. The provider had quality assurance processes in place however these were not always effective. For example, they did not identify the concerns around care plans. This did not impact upon people’s care. The registered manager told us they planned to review how to best adapt the templates of the audits they used to ensure these were compatible with the electronic care planning system used for care planning.

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 1 May 2019 and this is their first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

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.