Updated 31 January 2023
The inspection
We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.
Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.
Inspection team
The performance review and assessment was carried out by one inspector. Two Expert by Experiences telephoned people who used the service, and their relatives, to seek feedback. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
Registered Manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
Prior to our performance review and assessment, a person had applied to be registered as manager. During this performance review and assessment, the application was processed and concluded resulting in the person being registered as the manager.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the performance review and assessment. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the process.
Inspection activity started on 05 January 2023 and ended on 18 January 2023.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since its registration. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.
We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as telephone calls, emails and the ‘Give feedback on care’ facility on our website to enable us to engage with people using the service, their relatives and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. The performance review and assessment commenced on 05 January 2023 with feedback being provided to the registered manager on 18 January 2023.
During the performance review and assessment, we spoke with 5 people who used the service and 10 relatives; a further 2 relatives provided written feedback. We spoke with the registered manager and received feedback from 6 care staff including care support workers and office-based staff.
We assessed the care and medication records for 3 people who used the service. Several governance records were also assessed including the staff recruitment files for 2 staff members, training, induction and competency assessment records for staff, policies and procedures, quality assurance records, accident and incident records and information relating to safeguarding.