Home Angels Reading

Updated 19 November 2019

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

One inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out this inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The expert in this inspection had experience caring for an older person.

Service and service type

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

The provider had undergone a change in ownership in July 2019, which included the appointment of new directors and a new nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

The legal entity of Home Angels Healthcare Services Ltd has remained the same. The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The previous registered manager left in February 2019. The nominated individual was overseeing the service at the time of inspection. They told us they were currently in the process of recruiting a registered manager.

Notice of inspection

We gave 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because we needed to ensure the provider had time to contact people to inform them we may be calling them via telephone to gain their feedback about the care they received.

Inspection activity started on 6 September and ended on 13 September 2019. We visited the office location on 12 September 2019.

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 and received feedback from one social worker. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 13 people who used the service and two relatives via telephone about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eleven members of staff including the provider, the nominated individual, senior care workers and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 19 November 2019

About the service

Home Angels Healthcare Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 29 older 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.

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

The provider did not have a registered manager in place. The previous registered manager left the service in February 2019. The service was currently being overseen by the nominated individual, who was appointed by the provider as main point of contact with CQC.

The service had recently undergone a change of ownership. People and staff fed back positively about the changes which had been made. There had been initial improvements made around care planning, staff training and safe staff recruitment.

People told us they were happy with the care they received. They said the service was reliable and safe. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives. Staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

There was an open culture at the service and systems were in place to promote ongoing improvement. The provider used technology to help monitor the quality and safety of the service, including an electronic rota management system.

People were treated with dignity and respect, which promoted their independence.

People were safeguarded against the risks of suffering abuse and avoidable harm. Risks associated with people’s care were assessed and effectively reduced. There were robust plans in place to reduce risks associated with emergencies, such as severe weather.

People’s care plans detailed the support they required in key areas such as nutrition, medicines and healthcare.

Care plans were developed and reviewed in partnership with people. When people’s needs changed, their care plans were reviewed, and the provider sought appropriate input from external health and social care professionals to help ensure people’s needs were met.

There were enough suitable staff in place to meet people’s needs. Senior staff were available to cover care calls when required. Staff were enthusiastic about their jobs and understood people’s needs and preferences. Staff received appropriate training and ongoing support in their role.

There were systems in place to deal appropriately with complaints and feedback and people gave us positive feedback about how the provider communicated with them about changes and updates.

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 good (published 10 December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.