Aim24 Care - Main Office

Updated 3 December 2022

Inspection team

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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.

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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that a member of staff would be available to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service, including previous contact with the provider. 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.

We used information gathered as part of a monitoring activity that took place on 12 August 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection activity started on 19 October and ended on 10 November 2022.

We looked at records of care and support for 2 people who used the service and records of recruitment, training and supervision for 3 care workers. We looked at records relating to the management of the service such as policies and audits.

We spoke with a family member of one person who used the service and attempted contact with another person who used the service. We also attempted contact with five care workers and spoke with one.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.’

Updated 3 December 2022

About the service

Aim24 Care- Main Office is a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to older people and people with physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 2 people using the service.

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

People received good quality care that was planned to meet their changing needs. A family member told us, “They do an excellent job.”

People were safeguarded from abuse and avoidable harm. The provider had well developed systems for identifying risks and ensuring appropriate management plans were in place. Care workers were safely recruited and people told us they were able to choose a consistent staff team to work with them. The service took appropriate measures to protect people from infections.

People received the right support to eat and drink well and the service understood people’s health needs and how these may impact on their care needs. Care workers received the right training and supervision to carry out their roles.

Care was planned around people’s needs and preferences and the service worked to ensure that they understood people’s desired outcomes from their care. Care workers understood how to treat people with dignity and respect and offer choices to them.

The registered manager engaged well with people and their families to ensure high quality care. There were systems in place for meeting with people regularly and feeding back to staff if anything needed to change.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection:

We registered this service on 20 October 2021 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.