Updated 5 April 2019
The inspection: We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
This inspection was conducted on 11 and 15 March 2019.
Inspection team: This inspection was conducted by one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a full member of the inspection team and in this case a person who had personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service. This
On the first day of the inspection, the inspector visited the service's main office and met with the registered manager. On the second day, the expert by experience contacted people and their relatives by telephone to seek their feedback on their experience of the service.
Service and service type: This was a care at home service [domiciliary care agency]. It provided care and support to people 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: The first day of the inspection was announced. We informed the registered manager of our inspection 48 hours prior to it starting. This was due to the type of service and the registered manager often being out of the office. We needed to be sure someone would be available.
What we did: Our plan took into account information the provider sent us since the last inspection. We also considered information about matters the provider must notify us about, such as events involving injury. We obtained information from the local authority commissioners and safeguarding team and other professionals who work with the service. We also looked at the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection, we spoke with nine people who used the service to ask about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager, a provider's representative, two supervisors and four care staff. We looked at five people's care records and a selection of medicines and medicines administration records (MARs). We looked at other records including quality monitoring records, recruitment and training records for six staff members.
Details are in the key questions below.