Golden Years Support Services

Updated 7 October 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector. An Expert by Experience conducted telephone calls to obtain feedback from people or their relative. 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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

We visited the location’s office where we met with the registered manager of the service who is also the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke with four members of care staff. We spoke to ten people or their representatives. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including governance and auditing systems. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed the care records for three people which included risk assessments and care plans.

Updated 7 October 2022

About the service

Golden Years Support Services is a care at home service providing the regulated activity of personal care to 23 people at the time of this inspection. The service provides support to older and younger adults with a range of health needs. 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 were supported to keep safe by competent staff who knew them well. Areas of risk in people’s lives were identified through assessments and systems were in place to manage these risks. People, or their families where appropriate, were involved in planning and reviewing their care.

Staff were trained to provide a good standard of care, taking into account people's choices and promoting their independence. People were supported to access services to maintain their health and wellbeing.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were treated with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect. The service used feedback from people to improve services.

People, or their relatives, knew where to take any concerns they had and felt listened to. People felt the service was flexible to meet their needs. The service was committed to delivering a high standard of end of life care to people at the right time in the right place.

The service was consistently well led and managed. The person-centred vision of the service was consistently demonstrated in the values and practices of the staff.

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 19 October 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing, including safe recruitment, staff conduct and staff training. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe section of this full report.