Care Reserve Peterborough

Updated 9 April 2022

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

One inspector carried out this inspection.

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 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 a short period of notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be able to support the inspection and provide us with information we requested.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

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 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 to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. Inspection activity started on 21 March and ended on 24 March 2022.

We spoke with five relatives about their family member’s experience of the care provided. We spoke with the four members of staff currently providing care, one of whom is also the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included care records. We looked at files in relation to recruitment and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 9 April 2022

About the service

Care Reserve Peterborough is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care support to twelve people living in their own home. Personal care is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Some risk assessments would benefit from being more detailed to ensure that staff had the information they needed to provide safe care. All staff we spoke to told us they would report any concerns if they suspected a person had been harmed. However not all staff were aware of what organisations they could contact about safeguarding concerns outside of the agency.

Care workers had been recruited safely and they knew how to identify and report concerns. Safe management of medicines procedures were being followed. Learning from accidents, incidents and complaints were used to prevent issues from reoccurring. People were protected from the risks associated with poor infection control because the service had processes in place to reduce the risk of infection and cross contamination.

People received person centred care. Their assessments showed they had been involved in the assessment process. People or their relatives told us they were happy with the care they received.

Care workers were knowledgeable about people's needs. The registered manager told us that the agency considered training staff as very important in delivering a quality service.

There were governance structures and systems which were regularly reviewed. Quality assurance processes such as audits and spot checks were in place. People, their relatives and staff were asked about the quality of the service being provided. Detailed action plans were completed in response to any comments raised.

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.

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 July 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration with the CQC.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.