Background to this inspection
Updated
21 April 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 and one 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.
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 their registration with CQC. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with seven people and five relatives via telephone about their experience of the care provided. We visited the provider’s office on 10 and 15 March 2022 to speak to the registered manager, the regional manager and review records, policies, audits and care plans. We spoke to eight staff via telephone between 11 and 18 March 2022.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.
Updated
21 April 2022
About the service
The service was a domiciliary care agency which provided personal care services to people living in their own home. There were 42 people using the service at the time of the 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 told us they were happy with the care they received. However, they fed back that they felt that there could be improvements made in consistency of care call times and staff. The registered manager was aware of issues raised and told us they were taking steps to improve communication around these areas. People told us the registered manager was approachable and friendly.
The registered manager had a good oversight of the service. they carried out regular audits of care plans, care notes and care visit times to help ensure people were receiving the care and support which they needed.
The registered manager was focused on making continuous improvements to the service. They had recently introduced an electronic care planning system which helped improve safety and responsiveness.
Staff were motivated in their role and spoke enthusiastically about the people they cared for. Feedback from people was that staff were helpful and understood their needs.
People received personalised care that was in line with their needs. People told us they were treated with respect and were encouraged to remain as independent as possible in everyday personal care routines and tasks.
Their care plans reflected the care that they needed and how they preferred their personal care routines to be carried out.
People were supported to manage their medicines to help ensure they were administered as prescribed.
Risks related to people’s health and medical conditions were assessed and reduced. The provider worked proactively to involve external professionals when people’s needs changed or there were concerns about their health and wellbeing.
Staff received appropriate training in their role and the registered manager promoted ongoing learning and development through support, training and supervision.
There were enough staff in place to meet people’s needs. The registered manager had planned expansion of the service carefully to help ensure any increase in the number of people using the service was done safely.
There were policies and procedures in place to protect people from the risk of suffering abuse or coming to avoidable harm. The registered manager promoted learning through incidents by sharing outcomes of investigations with staff to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.
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 Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 16 October 2020 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This service had not previously been inspected and we wanted to check that people were receiving safe care and support.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.