Background to this inspection
Updated
20 June 2018
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
The inspection was announced. We gave the service a small amount of notice we would be visited the office to ensure that the registered manager was present. On the 8 May we visited the provider’s office to look at care and support documentation and speak with the registered manager. On the 6 and 7 May 2018 we spoke with staff. On the 21 and 25 May 2018 we spoke with the person who used the service and their relative.
Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included notifications we had received. A notification is information about important events such as accidents or incidents, which the provider is required to send us by law. We also contacted the local authority commissioning and safeguarding teams to ask them for their views on the service and whether they had any concerns. On this occasion we did not ask the provider for a Provider Information Return. This is information we usually require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
During the inspection we spoke with the person who used the service, their relative and the two staff members who delivered care and support. We also spoke with the registered manager. We looked at the person’s care records, medicine records, two staff recruitment files, training records and other records relating to the day to day running of the service.
Updated
20 June 2018
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older adults.
The inspection took place between 6 May 2018 and 25 May 2018 and was announced.
The service was last inspection in October 2014 and was compliant with the standards that we looked at. From September 2016 to January 2018, the service was dormant, meaning that it was not providing the regulated activity ‘personal care.’ Since January 2018, the service has been providing personal care to one service user.
A registered manager was in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
We found appropriate care and support was provided to the person receiving the service. Positive feedback was received from the person and their relative and no concerns were raised.
Overall medicines were managed safely although a few improvements were needed to the documentation of medicine support.
Risks to people’s health and safety were assessed although some of these needed to be more detailed.
Staff delivering care and support knew people well, and the person and relative said the person was safe in the company of staff.
Staff were recruited correctly to help ensure they were of suitable character to work with vulnerable people. There were enough staff to ensure a reliable service was provided. Staff received appropriate support and training to undertake their role.
We were told appropriate support was provided at mealtimes in line with the person’s needs and preferences.
The service was compliant with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).
Staff were kind and caring and demonstrated they were dedicated to providing personalised care and support. Care was delivered by a small and consistent team who had got to know the person well.
Appropriate care was provided that met the person’s needs. We found discrimination was not a feature of the service and the person’s individual needs and requirements were catered for. Independence was promoted by the service.
Good feedback was provided about the overall quality of the service. We saw a flexible and personalised approach to service delivery.
Some improvements were needed to documentation to ensure it provided a full account of the person’s care and support needs. Policies and procedural documents needed updating to ensure they were fully relevant to the support staff were providing. We made a recommendation regarding the improvement of documentation and procedural documents.