Updated 21 October 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
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing.
This service provides care [and support] to people living in specialist ‘extra care’ housing. Extra care housing is purpose-built or adapted single household accommodation in a shared site or building. The accommodation is bought and is the occupant’s own home. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people’s personal care.
Notice of inspection
We gave a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this. The inspection activity started on 06 September 2021. We visited the office location on 07 September 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed the information we held on the service. This included the Provider Information Return (PIR). Providers are required to send us key information about the service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. The information helps support our inspections. We also reviewed notifications received from the provider about incidents or accidents which they are required to send us by law. We sought feedback from professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
We considered any information held about the service at Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with one person and two relatives over the phone about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including the, registered manager and care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.