Bronte Care Services

Updated 9 March 2023

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 team consisted of 2 inspectors and an 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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 we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on the 5 January 2023 and ended on 31 January 2023. We visited the location’s office on 5 January 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was last inspected. 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.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service. We spoke with 4 staff and the registered manager. We reviewed 4 people's care records including risk assessments and 3 staff files in relation to recruitment. We also reviewed a range of management records including staff training, quality audits, medicines, and service user feedback. We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 7 relatives. We used electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

Updated 9 March 2023

About the service

Bronte Care Services is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service provided personal care to 56 people including older people, people living with dementia and people with a learning disability. 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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

Staff supported people within their own home, working with relatives to ensure they supported people to be involved in maintaining their own health and wellbeing where possible. Staff communicated with people in ways that met their 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.

Right Care:

People's needs were appropriately assessed before they started to receive support from the service. The service worked together with healthcare professionals and relatives to ensure people's needs could be met. People were supported with nutrition and hydration. Care was person-centred and promoted people's dignity, privacy and human rights. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff were appropriately trained on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to report safeguarding concerns. Relatives told us their love ones were safe when receiving care from the service. Care records contained risk assessments with clear guidance for staff to follow. Medicines were managed safely. Staff were recruited safely.

Right Culture:

Relatives spoke positively about the management team and staff. People received good quality care, and support because appropriately trained staff could meet their needs and wishes. Staff understood people's needs in relation to their strengths, impairments or sensitivities. This enabled people to receive compassionate, sensitive and appropriate care that was tailored to their needs. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 10th January 2020) and there was a breach of regulation 19 (Fit and proper persons employed). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

Why we inspected

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service on 5th January 2023. This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and the providers re registration changing from an individual to a partnership on 18th May 2021.