Right at Home Ipswich, Woodbridge and Felixstowe

Updated 19 May 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

The inspection team consisted of an inspector 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

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. The registered manager was also one of two directors of the provider company. The director and registered manager have been referred to as the provider throughout this report.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 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. Inspection activity started on 24 March 2022 and ended on 31 March 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registration with CQC. We sought feedback from the local authority. We also used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also had contact with 13 members of staff including the provider. We reviewed a range of records. These included two people's care and medication records, staff records in relation to recruitment and staff supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

Updated 19 May 2022

About the service

Right at Home Ipswich, Woodbridge and Felixstowe is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to adults living in their own homes. There were 11 people being supported with the regulated activity of personal care at the time of our inspection.

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 at the very heart of the service and the focus was on delivering first-class care. The provider's philosophy and values were shared across the staff team and embedded as part of the induction and ongoing training processes.

The provider and staff team were highly passionate about providing high quality care tailored to people's individual needs and preferences. People were cared for by a consistent team of well trained and competent care staff who knew them very well.

People were supported by exceptionally caring staff that respected their privacy and dignity very well and understood how to support them to maximise their independence.

The service was extremely well managed, and people and their relatives consistently praised the passion and drive of the provider and their motivation to provide an exceptional service. People, their relatives and staff consistently told us they would positively recommend the service to other people and had already done so in many cases.

Managers and care staff understood their roles in recognising and responding to abuse. Risks were assessed and managed safely. People received their medication as prescribed and there were sufficient staff available to keep them safe and ensure their needs were met. Staff adhered to infection prevention and control procedures.

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 and update

This service was registered with us on 1 April 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

Why we inspected This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was first registered

Follow up

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