Archived: The Link Nursing & Care Agency Limited

Updated 25 February 2016

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.

This inspection took place on 26 and 28 January 2016. It was carried out by one inspector and was announced. We gave the registered manager prior notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure someone would be in the office. We were assisted on the day of our inspection by the registered manager.

Before the inspection the registered manager completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the PIR and at all the information we had collected about the service. This included previous inspection reports and notifications the registered manager had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law.

As part of the inspection we sent survey questionnaires to 44 members of staff and received four back. We also sent survey questionnaires to 21 community professionals and received seven back. We spoke with three people using the service, five relatives and five support workers. We also spoke with the registered manager and members of the head office staff team. We observed people and staff working together during the two days of our inspection.

We looked at four people's care plans, daily records, health action plans and medication administration records. We also looked at the recruitment files of five care staff and staff training records. We saw a number of documents relating to the management of the service. For example, quality audits, quality assurance surveys of relatives, complaints records and incident and accident reports.

Updated 25 February 2016

This inspection took place on 26 and 28 January 2016 and was announced. We gave the registered manager prior notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure someone would be in the office. We last inspected the service on 22 January 2014. At that inspection we found the service was compliant with the essential standards we inspected.

The Link Nursing & Care Agency Limited provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The people they support have varying needs including physical disabilities,

learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were 19 people using the service. Of those, 16 people lived in shared accommodation in supported living facilities. The remaining people either lived on their own or with their family. The provider supports additional people in the community but they do not receive personal care. This inspection and report only relates to the 19 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care. Those receiving support but not receiving personal care are outside the regulatory remit of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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. The registered manager was present throughout the inspection.

Staff had a good understanding of how to keep people safe and their responsibilities for reporting accidents, incidents or concerns. Staff had the knowledge and confidence to identify safeguarding concerns and acted on these to keep people safe.

People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity was promoted. People said their care and support workers were kind and supported them in the way they wanted them to. Staff were responsive to the needs of the people they supported and enabled them to improve and maintain their independence with personal care. Risks to people’s personal safety were assessed and plans were in place to minimise those risks.

People received support that was individualised to their specific needs. Their needs were monitored and care plans were kept under review and amended as changes occurred. People's rights to make their own decisions, where possible, were protected and staff were aware of their responsibilities to ensure people's rights to make their own decisions were promoted. People confirmed they were involved in decision-making about their care and support needs.

There were safe medicines administration systems in place and people received their medicines when required. People's health and wellbeing was monitored and appropriate action was taken when required.

People were supported by sufficient staff to meet their individual needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed before new staff were employed to work with people. Checks were made to ensure staff were of good character and suitable for their role.

People received effective care and support from staff who were well trained and knew how people liked things done. Staff received effective supervision and their work was reviewed in yearly appraisals.

People benefitted from receiving a service from staff who worked well together and felt management worked with them as a team. Quality assurance systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service being delivered and the running of the service.