Archived: Altogether Care LLP - Salisbury Care at Home

Altogether Care LLP - Salisbury Care at Home is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, 33 people were receiving the regulated activity, personal care.

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 gave us variable feedback about the numbers of staff available. The registered manager confirmed there were enough staff to support existing care packages, but staff sickness and self-isolation had impacted on staff availability. Systems were in place to help protect people from the risk of harm. Staff had received training in safeguarding and people felt safe with staff supporting them. Risks people faced had been assessed, and measures were in place to mitigate them. Robust recruitment procedures were being followed, and recruitment was on-going to increase flexibility and enable the agency’s growth. Systems were in place to minimise the risk of infection and its transmission. This included regular testing for COVID-19, staff training and ample supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE).

People’s needs were fully assessed before they started using the service. People were supported to access health care services as needed, and had enough to eat and drink. Staff were well supported and received training to ensure their knowledge and skills were up to date.

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 and compassion. People were complimentary about the staff and their rights to privacy, dignity and independence were promoted. Staff enjoyed their role and were committed to providing good support.

People were happy with the service they received. Each person had a support plan, which they helped devise and review. The plans were clearly written, with information about people’s needs and preferences. People and their relatives knew how to raise a concern although did not feel the need to do so. Records showed complaints had been properly investigated and used to improve the service. The agency supported people at the end of their life. Staff worked with other health care professionals to ensure such care was provided in a responsive and dignified manner.

The registered manager was clear about their management responsibilities and had good oversight of the service. There were a range of audits to assess the quality and safety of the service. Feedback about the service was encouraged, and used to improve the service. There was a positive culture, and a commitment to ensure people received good quality support, which met their needs.

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 05/08/2019 and this is the first comprehensive inspection. A focused inspection of the service was undertaken on 13/11/20. At that time, the safe key question was the only area inspected, and an overall rating for the service was not given.

Why we inspected

This inspection was planned, as the service had not received a comprehensive inspection or been awarded a rating since registration.

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.

Altogether Care LLP – Salisbury Care at Home is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service was supporting 37 people at the time of the inspection.

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

People told us staff followed good infection control practice while they were in their home.

Staff were trained in infection control and demonstrated a good understanding of the systems in place. Additional training had been completed by all staff since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Staff had a supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) and were able to get additional supplies whenever they needed them. Senior staff completed spot checks to ensure staff were following the correct procedures.

People received support to manage their medicines safely and maintain their independence. Staff had received training in safe administration of medicines. Their practice had been assessed to ensure it was safe.

There were enough staff working to meet people’s needs. Staff had been thoroughly checked when they were recruited and received training before providing care for people.

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 05/08/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

We undertook this targeted inspection to check on specific concerns we had received about infection control, medicines management and staffing. An overall rating for the service has not been given following this targeted inspection.

CQC have introduced targeted inspections to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.

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.

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.