Silas Care Services Luton

Updated 25 March 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

This inspection as 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 48 hours of notice for the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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-

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

Inspection activity started on 14 March 2022 and ended on 17 March 2022.

We spoke with one person using the service about their experience of care provided. We spoke with two members of staff including the registered manager and a care worker.

We reviewed a range of records. This included one person’s care records. We looked at one staff file in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 25 March 2022

About the service

Silas Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes or flats. The domiciliary care agency is registered to provide a service to people over and under the age of 65 years old, people living with dementia, people living with physical disabilities and people living with a learning disability or autism.

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. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting one person with personal care.

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

People told us they felt safe. One person told us the staff followed information in their care plan when supporting them to access the community to ensure their safety.

Care plans and risk assessments had been completed with the involvement of people. People were encouraged to maintain their independence and make decisions.

Staff told us they completed an induction at the start of their employment which prepared them for their role. We were told the registered manager was approachable and supportive of the staff.

People and staff were aware of the process to raise concerns if required and felt confident these would be listened to.

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.

The registered manager obtained feedback from people and used this to drive improvements and develop 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 us on 9 September 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection as a newly registered service.

Follow up

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

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.