Caremark (Coventry)

Updated 29 July 2021

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team consisted of two 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. Both inspectors visited the service and the Expert by Experience gathered feedback about the service from people and their relatives via the telephone. Following the visit to the service one inspector gathered additional feedback from members of care workers via the telephone.

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 24 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 07 June 2021 and ended on 11 June 2021. We visited the office location on 10 May 2021.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority who commission services from the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 12 people who used the service and 13 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the provider, registered manager, deputy manager and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to their recruitment and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at staff training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 29 July 2021

About the service

Caremark (Coventry) is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service supported 234 people living in Coventry and Warwickshire. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care': help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

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

People and relatives spoke positively about the service they received. People received personalised care which was responsive to their individual needs. Staff had a good understanding of the care and support people needed and provided this with care, commitment, kindness and compassion.

Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in identifying and reporting any concerns of potential abuse or poor practice. Risks to people were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm including the prevention of avoidable infection. Staff were trained in medicine management and supported people to take medicines safely.

Safe recruitment practices were followed, and appropriate checks completed to ensure that only suitable staff were employed. There were sufficient numbers of trained, experienced staff to meet people's 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.

There was a system of ongoing monitoring through audits and spot checks to review the quality of the service provided.

People, staff and relatives expressed confidence in the management team and felt the service had a clear management structure and an open and supportive culture.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 03 March 2020).

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 10 January 2020 and we identified improvements were needed.

We undertook this focused inspection to check improvements had been made and sustained. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Caremark (Coventry) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.