Personal Care Support Ltd

Updated 16 March 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.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a 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 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. We sought feedback from the local authority where the service was located. 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 spoke with the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. Both the registered manager and the nominated individual provided personal care to people when needed in addition to being responsible for the overall management of the service. We reviewed a range of records including two people's care files, two staff files and one person's medicine records. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service. Whilst at the service, we spoke by telephone with two relatives.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and a variety of policies and procedures. We were unable to speak with people using the service because of their complex needs. We spoke with two care staff by telephone.

Updated 16 March 2022

About the service

Personal Care Support Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing support to older people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were three people using the service. 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. All people using the service received personal care.

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

People felt safe in the service. Policies and procedures such as adult safeguarding and whistleblowing were in place and each person had a risk assessment which was regularly reviewed. Staff encouraged people to be involved in their care by supporting them to make decisions. 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.

Pre-assessments of people’s needs were completed to ensure that the service was suitable for them. Each person had a care plan which gave guidance to staff on how they wanted to be supported. Staff understood people's needs and were able to provide person-centred care. Staff were aware of what equality and diversity meant and knew that people's choices and preferences should be respected, and people must not be discriminated against. People's privacy and dignity was maintained.

Staff supported people to eat and drink to maintain a balanced diet, and to have access to health care.

There was safe management of medicines. Systems were in place for recording, reviewing and putting remedial actions in place when incidents and accidents occurred. Staff worked with other health and social care agencies to ensure people received effective care. Steps had been taken to prevent the spread of infections.

There was a robust staff recruitment system in place. Staff were supported to carry out their roles through induction, training and supervision. There were enough staff at the service.

Relatives and staff were satisfied with the management of the service. The registered manager audited various aspects of the service and sought verbal feedback from relatives and staff. These meant the provider had systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service.

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 04 May 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

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