Archived: Waterfont Care

Updated 31 May 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 Act.

Inspection team

This inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

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 20 April 2022 and ended on 28 April 2022. We visited the office on 21 April 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it registered with CQC. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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 one person who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including care assistants, the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff support. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 31 May 2022

About the service

Waterfont Care is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection there were three people using the service.

Not everyone who uses a domiciliary care service receives personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. Personal care is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people do receive personal care, we also consider any wider social care provided to them.

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

People using the service and their relatives were happy with the care and support they received. It met their needs and was tailored to their preferences. People, their relatives and staff all felt the service was well-organised and well-run. The registered manager and provider were highly involved in each person’s care and had good oversight of the service. However, some of the provider’s governance and record keeping systems needed to be improved to ensure all aspects of the service were robustly monitored.

People felt safe when receiving care. However, further information was needed in people’s care plans to support staff to manage risks effectively. Improvements were also needed to people’s care records in respect of medicines management. We have made a recommendation about the management of some medicines.

People told us staff were very kind, caring and compassionate. People were supported by a small number of regular staff who knew them well. Staff turned up on time and delivered the care people needed during each care visit, whilst respecting people’s routines and preferences. Staff were recruited safely, and they followed safe infection prevention and control practices.

Staff were supported by the registered manager and provider to develop the right skills for their roles. People and their relatives told us staff appeared to be well trained and staff told us they were very well supported. However, some of the provider’s systems and processes designed to ensure staff remained competent and skilled had not yet been embedded.

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 knew how to complain if they needed to and people’s feedback was regularly obtained by the registered manager and provider. However, people’s feedback was not recorded anywhere to ensure it could be used as part of a quality assurance system to improve 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

This service was registered with CQC on 9 July 2020 and this was the service’s first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement and recommendations

We have identified a breach of regulation in relation to the governance and record keeping systems used by the service.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.