Zephyr Care Limited

Updated 18 July 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:

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. The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. The manager was in process of submitting their application to be registered with us. The registered manager 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 visit because we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection. The inspection took place on 27 June 2019.

What we did before inspection:

Before the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the registered provider, including previous notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the registered provider is required to send to us by law.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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.

During our inspection:

We spoke with the manager and nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision records. We checked multiple records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider were reviewed during and after the inspection.

After the inspection:

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to corroborate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

We spoke with three people using the service and three relatives by telephone to obtain their views of the service. We also contacted four members of staff to ask them questions about their roles and to confirm information we had received about the service during our inspection.

Updated 18 July 2019

About the service:

Zephyr Care Limited is a Home Instead Senior Care franchise holder. They provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our visit, they were providing personal care to six people. 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

Risk assessments were designed to keep people and staff safe while allowing people to develop and maintain their independence. However, we noted some risk assessments could be more comprehensive. People said they felt safe and would talk to staff if they had concerns. Staff demonstrated good understanding of the service’s safeguarding policy and knew how to ensure people were protected from abuse. People were protected from the risks of unsafe or inappropriate care. There were systems in place to make sure people received their medicines safely. Background checks had been carried out on staff to ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable people. There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs.

People were supported to have their nutritional needs met and there was guidance in care records as to how to meet these. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service did support this practice. Staff were supported through training, supervision and appraisals. They felt supported to carry out their roles. We have made a recommendation about end of life training.

People received individualised care that met their needs. They were supported to attend health and medical appointments, and staff sought medical assistance when people were unwell. The service worked in partnership with other health professionals to ensure people received effective care and support.

People and relatives told us they were satisfied with the care and support provided by the service. They said the staff were caring and treated people with respect and dignity. They felt able to make a complaint and were confident that complaints would be listened to and acted on.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the service and said it was managed well. There were systems in place to manage, monitor the quality of the service provided. The management team had regular contact with people using the service and their representatives. They welcomed suggestions on how they could develop the services and make improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated good (published 25 January 2017).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.