Updated 4 July 2019
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team: The inspection was carried out by two inspectors, and an Expert by Experience. 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: Powell House is a domiciliary care agency and supported living service providing community support and personal care to people living in their own homes so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
The service had a registered manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.
Notice of inspection: We gave the service notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary care agency/supported living service and we needed to be sure the registered manager would be in.
The Inspection site visit was carried out on 11 June 2019. We visited the office location to see the registered manager, the office staff and support workers; and to review care records and policies and procedures. People using the service were contacted on the 11 and 12 June 2019.
What we did before the inspection: The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR), this is information the provider is required to send us at least annually that provides key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the PIR and other information we held about the service such as notifications. These are events which happened in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. We sought feedback from the local authority who monitor the care and support people received and Healthwatch Warwickshire, the local consumer champion for people using adult social care services. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection: We spoke with one of the people using the service and three relatives. We spoke with the registered manager, the branch manager, the team leader and two support workers. We reviewed a range of records about people's care and how the service was managed. This included two people's care records. We also looked at associated documents including risk assessments and a sample of medicine records. We looked at records of meetings for the staff team, staff training records and the recruitment checks carried out for new staff employed at the service. We also looked at a sample of the providers quality assurance audits that the management team had completed.
After the inspection: The registered manager provided us with copies of documents requested to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.