Eleanor Nursing and Social Care Ltd - Oxford Office

Updated 9 March 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 1 inspector 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.

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 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.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The service was run by a nominated individual who was in process of registering with Care quality Commission (CQC). The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service a 48 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

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 reviewed our last inspection report and an action plan. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 7 people using the service and 4 relatives of people about their experience of the support and care provided. We spoke with the nominated individual. We reviewed a range of records. These included care plans for 3 people and multiple medicines records. We looked at recruitment checks for 3 staff members. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were also reviewed.

After the inspection

We obtain feedback from 3 members of staff. We contacted 4 healthcare professionals to obtain their opinion on the quality of care provided by the service.

Updated 9 March 2023

About the service

Eleanor Nursing and Social Care Ltd-Oxford Office is a domiciliary care service offering personal care to people living in Oxfordshire. The service provides support to people living with dementia, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, physical disabilities, sensory impairment, and mental health issues. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care from the service.

Not everyone using the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse, and the service worked well with other agencies to do so. There were enough staff, with the appropriate skills, to support people. People received the support they needed to take their medicines. Staff knew how to protect people from infection. The provider had systems to learn from incidents to ensure people were safe.

People received care that met their individual needs and preferences. People's care plans were reviewed and updated regularly to reflect their current needs. People were supported by appropriately trained staff and care records reflected the care they received. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff provided them with care in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service promoted this practice.

The service was responsive to people's needs and wishes. People could request changes to their care, and these were introduced where possible. People received person-centred care which met their needs. Complaints were addressed and feedback was sought from people and their relatives, including their involvement in decisions relating to their care. The provider ensured lessons were learnt from the areas of improvement identified at the last inspection.

The management team was accessible to their teams and encouraged staff to develop skills in order to progress within their work. The management team completed regular audits to ensure the quality of the service and identify areas for improvement. The provider forged positive working relationships with health and social care professionals.

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 21 July 2022). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We had carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 1 June 2022. Breaches of legal requirements had been found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check whether they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has 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 Eleanor Nursing and Social Care Ltd - Oxford Office on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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