Hope's Special Care Limited

Updated 14 July 2023

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 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 houses and flats and specialist housing.

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

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.

Inspection activity started on 17 May 2023 and ended on 20 June 2023. We visited the location’s office on 17 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, a quality assurance officer, 1 relative and 3 staff. We reviewed 1 care file and associated risk assessments. We also reviewed 4 staff recruitment, training and supervision records. We also reviewed records relating to managing the service and quality monitoring.

Updated 14 July 2023

About the service

Hope’s Special Care is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care support. At the time of our inspection 1 person was using the service.

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

People were kept safe as there were risk assessments to reduce the risk of potential harm. Staff carried out visual assessments of people’s homes to ensure any new hazards were removed and kept people safe.

Staff knew the different types of abuse and the processes to follow should they suspect or witness abuse. Whistleblowing procedures were available to support staff to make an anonymous report of abuse.

Systems to manage medicines were effective. Infection control procedures were followed to reduce the risk and spread of infection.

There were enough staff to support and meet people’s needs. Care was planned to provide continuity of care; people had a team of staff they knew who cared for them. Staff were recruited safely.

People’s needs were assessed before care began to ensure the service could safely meet people’s care requirements.

Staff received a full induction upon employment and there was an ongoing training programme to provide them with the skills to do their jobs.

People were supported to eat and drink. Health needs were monitored and documented. The service maintained good links with health professionals and updated them whenever there were changes in people’s needs. Consent to care and treatment was obtained before care began; staff offered choices to people to encourage decision making in their care.

People were looked after by staff who enjoyed their job and cared for the people they supported. The service supported people from all different backgrounds and did not tolerate discrimination. People’s privacy and dignity was respected, and people’s confidentiality maintained.

People’s care plans were personalised and detailed their likes and dislikes. People’s communication needs were recorded, and adjustments to documents could be provided to support inclusion such as translation, braille and pictorial formatting.

There was a complaints policy and procedure and information was provided if people needed to take their complaint further.

Relatives were pleased with the quality of the care provided. Staff felt supported by the registered manager and enjoyed coming to work. Quality monitoring took place within the service and people, relatives and staff were able to provide their views on the quality of the service to help it improve.

The registered manager continually wanted to improve the service and learn from any mistakes as they saw it as an opportunity to make the service better for people.

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

This service was registered with us on 7 December 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.

Follow up

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