Background to this inspection
Updated
6 January 2024
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.
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 provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
The inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also contacted the local authority who commission services with the provider.
During the inspection
Inspection activity started on 29 November 2023 and ended on 06 December 2023. We visited the service on 30 November 2023, which was announced, as agreed in advance with the registered manager.
We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 3 relatives about their experience of the care provided.
We spoke with 6 staff members which included the registered manager, nominated individual and care staff. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We reviewed a range of documents and records for 4 people, this included care plans, risk assessments, daily notes, and medicine records. We looked at 2 staff recruitment files and training records. We also looked at records, systems and processes related to the management and quality assurance of the service.
After the inspection
We continued to review information which the registered manager and provider shared with us.
Updated
6 January 2024
About the service
Walfinch Solihull is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 6 people using the service. They support older people and those living with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments.
People’s experience of the 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 assessment and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
Right Support
Risks to people were not always well managed which meant risk of harm to people had not always been considered. There was no evidence that people had been harmed. There was evidence to demonstrate people had been supported with things which were important to them such as their interests, and staff knew people well. Medicines were not always well managed, this included lack of robust information for staff to follow in relation to ‘as required’ medicines.
People were supported to live in their own homes. There were adequate numbers of staff to support people.
Right Care
People's care plans and risk assessments did not always provide robust guidance for staff to follow in relation to people’s known health needs. This included how to support people with distressed behaviours to minimise the risks to themselves and staff. This meant people could be placed at risk as staff may not have information in relation to how known health conditions impact on people’s needs, wishes and abilities. However, there was no evidence to demonstrate people had been harmed. People were supported and encouraged, promoting their independence.
There was a stable team of staff who knew people's needs and were kind and caring.
Right Culture
The registered manager told us how they had communicated with staff and people using the service to ensure the culture within the service was open and inclusive.
People were not consistently supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not always support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.
The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety within the service. However, these needed some improvement as they had not highlighted some of the issues we found. For example, concerns about the lack of care plans and risk assessments for people’s known health conditions, a staff member being logged into two calls at the same time and lack of guidance for staff to follow in relation to ‘as required’ medicines. Where the provider's systems had highlighted concerns, the systems in place to action and follow up on these were not robust and did not evidence appropriate actions had been taken.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating
The service was registered with us on 17 November 2021, and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow Up
We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.