Background to this inspection
Updated
15 July 2022
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was undertaken by two inspectors, a medicines 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 homes.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 22 October 2021 and ended on 17 November 2021. We visited the office location on 11 November 2021.
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 received feedback from two health and social care professionals.
We asked the registered manager to send some records for us to review. This included a variety of records relating to the support people received, management of the service, audits, training and supervision records. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.
We spoke with 15 people who used the service, seven friends and relatives about the care and support people received. We received feedback from 16 staff, through telephone calls and emails, about what it was like to work at the service.
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We visited the office and met with the registered manager and office staff. We looked at information related to recruitment, accidents and incidents and medicines. We gathered information about how the service was managed and run on a daily basis. We spoke with the quality manager on the telephone.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found. We received updated documents in response to our discussions when we were at the office. We held a feedback call with the registered manager and quality manager to discuss our findings and to clarify aspects of the inspection.
Updated
15 July 2022
About the service
Alina Homecare is a Domiciliary Care Agency (DCA) that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Not everyone who used 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. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 93 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We found some improvements were needed to people’s records and to the audit system to ensure people’s care plans and risk assessments fully reflected people’s care and support needs.
People were supported by a kind and caring team of staff who worked hard to ensure people received the care and support they needed. The registered manager recognised that the ability to consistently provide this level of care was down to the whole staff team.
Staff knew people well and understood the risks associated with their care and support needs. Risk assessments provided further guidance about individual and environmental risks. People were supported to receive their medicines when they needed them.
People were protected from the risks of harm, abuse or discrimination because staff knew what actions they should take if they identified concerns. There were enough staff, who had been safely recruited, working to provide the support people needed, at times of their choice.
Staff received training and supervision to help them meet the needs of people. Staff told us they were able to request further training to help meet people’s needs. They said they were well supported by the registered manager and colleagues.
People were supported to maintain their health and maintain and improve their independence. Where required people were supported to eat and drink meals of their choice. People were encouraged to eat a healthy diet but individual choices were respected.
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.
People received care and support that was personalised to their own requirements. Visits took place at a time that suited each individual. As far as possible people received support from a small team of six care staff. This meant staff knew people as individuals and were able to provide the care and support needed.
There was a positive culture at the service. The registered manager was accessible and the whole staff team worked together to improve and develop the service.
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 outstanding (published 19 February 2018).
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.