Somerset Care Community Services (Wiltshire)

Somerset Care Community Services (Wiltshire) is a domiciliary care agency and was providing personal care to 140 people 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 had their medicines as prescribed. Staff used an electronic medicine recording system which meant office staff had an overview of medicines administration. We found people with ‘as required’ medicines did not always have a protocol for their medicines. We have made a recommendation about ‘as required’ protocols.

People’s risks had been identified and risk management plans were in place to support people safely. Staff had reviewed them regularly and updated plans when people’s needs changed. People had their own care plan which was personalised and detailed. There was guidance in place for staff to know what people’s likes, dislikes and preferences were.

People were supported by sufficient numbers of staff. Due to short notice sickness or other staffing challenges there were times when staff levels were impacted. There was a team of office staff available to visit people where needed and a risk management system was in place. People’s needs were reviewed, and calls rated to make sure vulnerable people got their essential visits. The registered manager was trying different ways to recruit new staff and had experienced some success. Staff had been recruited safely.

Staff had supplies of personal protective equipment and had been trained on how to use it safely. Staff had also received training on a range of topics such as moving and handling, safeguarding and medicines management. Refreshers were provided when needed and staff had observations and assessments carried out for competence.

New staff received an induction and given support to learn their role. All staff had regular supervisions and an annual appraisal to discuss training and development needs.

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.

Staff carried out assessments for a range of areas and updated information regularly. People had life history information recorded which helped staff understand people’s needs and preferences. Staff worked with local healthcare professionals when needed and made timely referrals.

Systems were in place to make sure there was good communication amongst the staff. Staff told us they thought there was good teamwork and they were supported by managers.

Quality monitoring systems were in place to help identify any improvement. The provider had good oversight of the service and carried out regular checks of key areas such as accidents, incidents and safeguarding. There was a registered manager in place who was supported by a team of managers and senior workers. People and staff told us they felt able to raise concerns and knew how to do this.

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 19 March 2021 and this is the first inspection. The last rating for the service at the previous premises was good (published 15 May 2018).

Why we inspected

This was the first inspection of the service since the provider made changes to their registration.

Recommendations

We have made one recommendation with regards to ‘as required’ protocols.

Follow up

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