Archived: Positive Homecare

Updated 13 April 2017

We undertook an announced focused inspection of Positive Home Care on 17 March 2017. This inspection was done to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our September 2016 inspection. We inspected the service against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well-led? This is because the service was not meeting some legal requirements.

This was an announced inspection. Forty eight hours’ notice of the inspection was given to ensure that the people we needed to speak to were available. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector. Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service such as information from the public and whistle blowing enquires. We spoke with the local authority who confirmed they had no additional information that we were not already aware of.

We reviewed four people’s care plans and associated records. We spoke with the provider and their care coordinator. We looked at staff’s recruitment, supervision and training records, and spoke with the registered manager about the systems in place for monitoring the quality of care people received. We reviewed comments people had made in a feedback survey and looked at a variety of the service’s policies such as those relating to accidents and incidents, complaints and quality assurance.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the home, including previous inspection reports. We considered the information which had been shared with us by the local authority and other people, looked at safeguarding alerts which had been made and notifications which had been submitted. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

Updated 13 April 2017

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of Positive Home Care on 14 September 2016. A breach of legal requirement was found in relation to the provider notifying the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of events that affected people. After the inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the breach and told us this would be completed by the end of October 2016.

We undertook this focused inspection on 17 March 2017 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. We found improvements had been made and the provider was now meeting all legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Positive Home Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This was an announced inspection. This means the provider was given notice due to it being a domiciliary care provider and we needed to ensure someone was available. The agency provides support and care for people living in their own homes. Some people were at risk of falls and had long term healthcare needs associated with living with dementia, others had sensory impairments.

Positive Health Care provides their services within an approximate 10 mile radius from their office in Fairlight. At the time of our inspection 22 people were using the service.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider. The registered manager was also the provider.

The provider had established quality assurance systems which enabled them to have oversight of many areas of the service provided. These had been effective in most areas however we identified some improvements to the recording of staff training. The provider took immediate corrective action to ensure these shortfalls were addressed.

The provider completed a monthly managers audit which reviewed areas such as feedback from people and their relatives, accidents and incidents and tracked which staff had undergone supervision.

Following a previous recommendation from the CQC the provider spoke positively regarding their attendance at networking and care industry events which were aimed at providing updates and sharing good practice.

The provider had made provision for unseen events which may cause interruptions to the service by establishing contingency plans which included a ‘pool’ vehicle.