Heaven Scent Care Services Ltd

Updated 8 March 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type:

Heaven Scent Care Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides care to people living in their own houses, flats or specialist housing. The service provides personal care and support to adults.

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 site visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure they would be in to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 25 January 2019 and ended on 5 February 2019. We visited the office location on 25 January 2019 to see the manager and care staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before the inspection, we looked at information we held about the service including notifications. A notification is information about events that registered persons are required to tell us about. We checked 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. We used this information to plan the inspection

During the inspection, we looked at various information including:

¿ Care records for four people.

¿ Records of accidents and incidents; compliments and complaints; audits; surveys.

¿ Three staff files to check the provider's staff recruitment, training and supervision processes.

¿ Some of the provider’s policies and procedures.

We spoke with two people, three relatives of other people and two staff by telephone.

Updated 8 March 2019

About the service:

Heaven Scent Care Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to adults. At the time of the inspection, seven people were being supported by the service.

Not everyone using a domiciliary care agency receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were protected from harm by staff who had been trained, and were confident in recognising and reporting concerns. Potential risks to people health and wellbeing were assessed and minimised. There were enough staff to ensure people’s needs were met safely. People were supported well to manage their medicines because staff had been trained to do so safely. Staff had the right equipment and followed effective processes to prevent the spread of infection.

Staff had been trained and had the right skills to meet people's needs effectively. Staff were well supported and had information to meet people’s assessed needs. Where required, staff supported people to have enough to eat and drink. Staff supported people to access to healthcare professionals when required, to help them maintain their health and well-being.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were fully involved in making decisions about their care and support. People and their relatives were involved in planning and reviewing care plans. People told us staff who supported them were caring and friendly. Staff respected and promoted people’s privacy, dignity and independence.

Information in people's care plans supported staff to deliver person-centred care that met people’s needs. Staff had been trained on how to support people well at the end of their lives. The registered manager worked in partnership with other professionals to ensure that people received care that met their needs. There was a system to ensure people’s suggestions and complaints were recorded, investigated, and acted upon to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Audits and quality monitoring checks were carried out regularly to continually improve the service. The provider had systems to enable people to provide feedback about their experiences of the service. People's experiences of the service were mainly positive, and the registered manager showed us what they had done to deal with some of the concerns raised by people. Overall, there effective systems to ensure people received good quality care.

Rating at last inspection:

The service was rated 'good' when we last inspected it. That report was published in January 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor all information we receive about the service and schedule the next inspection accordingly.