Archived: New Horizons Trust Home Care Services

Updated 11 March 2016

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 took place on 20 January 2016 and was announced. This means we told the provider that we would be inspecting the service before we carried out the inspection. We did this because the registered manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available.

The inspection team was made up of one adult social care inspector and one 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. Prior to our inspection, we looked at the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The PIR did not highlight any concerning information about the service. Also before our inspection, we spoke with six stakeholders, including the local authority, the South and West Yorkshire Partnership Trust (SWYPT) and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. SWYPT is a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health, learning disability and health improvement services to people. A stakeholder is a person or organisation who has interest, concern or involvement with an organisation. Stakeholders we spoke with told us they had no current concerns about New Horizons Trust Home Care Services. We also checked any previous notifications or concerns we had received about the service, so that we could check they had been dealt with appropriately. This information was reviewed and used to assist with our inspection.

During our inspection, we spoke with the registered manager. Following our inspection, we spoke with eight people who used the service and seven care staff members, all via telephone. We also carried out visits to three people in their own homes, where we spoke with people, their relatives and friends.

We looked at documents kept by the service including the care records of six people who used the service and the personnel records of five care staff members. We looked at records relating to the management and monitoring of the service.

Updated 11 March 2016

We carried out this inspection on 20 January 2016 and it was announced. This means we told the provider that we would be inspecting the service before we carried out the inspection. We did this because the registered manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available.

The last full inspection of the service took place on 26 January 2015 and we found the service to be in breach of the following regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010; Regulation 10 – Assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision [now Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014], Regulation 18 – Consent to care and treatment [now Regulation 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014] and Regulation 23 – Supporting workers [now Regulation 18(2) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014]. Compliance actions were given for these three regulations. We checked that the registered provider had taken action on these breaches during this inspection and found the service was now compliant with these regulations.

New Horizons Trust Home Care Services provides personal care for adults living in their own home. The service is based in Deepcar, Sheffield and has access to local amenities. The service's offices are located on the first floor and can be accessed by a lift. At the time of our inspection, there were approximately 52 people using the service.

It is a condition of registration with the Care Quality Commission that the service has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was present on the day of our inspection.

The service made sure people were protected from abuse by followed effective safeguarding procedures. We found records were complete and updated regularly. There were enough staff to cover each care visit and people had their needs met and responded to.

We found staff were adequately trained and supervised. The service had an effective and efficient computer system in place to monitor training and supervision needs.

We found there was an open culture at the service, where staff and people who used the service felt able to speak with management on all levels and felt confident in doing so. People confirmed they had their dignity and respect maintained and felt able to raise any concerns.