Background to this inspection
Updated
3 April 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: Two inspectors and an expert by experience carried out the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service.
Service and service type: Care Associates is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes, including, older people, people with mental health problems, and people living with dementia. CQC regulates the personal care provided.
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: This comprehensive inspection took place on 27 February 2019. The inspection was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours' notice of the inspection because we needed to be sure the registered manager and other staff would be available to speak with us.
We visited the office location on 27 February 2019 to see the registered manager, speak with staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did: Prior to the inspection, we looked at the information we held about the service and used this to help us plan our inspection. This included information the provider must notify us about, such as allegations of abuse. We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR). 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 also contacted the local authority commissioners for the service, they had no information to share with us.
We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, a care co-ordinator, a training and finance officer and three members of care staff. We also spoke with 12 people, and three relatives of people who used the service by telephone.
We reviewed a range of records. That included, four people’s care records, including risk assessments and medicine records. Three staff personnel files, including recruitment, induction and training records. Staff work programmes and allocation sheets. Records of accidents, incidents and complaints. Management audits and checks.
Updated
3 April 2019
About the service:
Care Associates Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It is registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes, including, older people, people with mental health problems, and people living with dementia. At the time of this inspection the service supported 80 people.
People’s experience of using this service:
• People’s needs were assessed to ensure they could be met by the service.
• People felt safe and were protected from avoidable harm.
• Staff knew about the risks associated with people’s care and understood how to keep people safe.
• Staff supported people to take their medicines safely and followed best practice guidance to prevent and control the spread of infection.
• Most people received care calls at consistent times, from staff they knew, who stayed for the length of time agreed.
• People made their own decisions about their care and were supported by staff who understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Staff were recruited safely and received the support and training they needed to be effective in their roles.
• Staff respected people’s rights to privacy and dignity and promoted their independence.
• Where needed people were supported to meet their nutritional needs and to maintain their health and well-being.
• People received information about the service in a way they could understand.
• People were involved in planning and agreeing their care. Care plans contained the information staff needed to provide personalised care.
• People, and their relatives were regularly consulted about the care provided.
• The managers had developed good relationships with health and social care professionals which improved outcomes for people.
• Systems were in place to manage and respond to any complaints or concerns raised.
• The provider had effective and responsive processes for assessing and monitoring the quality of the service. But these had not always been implemented consistently.
Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement overall with a breach of Regulation 18, Notifications. The last inspection report was published on 14 March 2018.
This was a planned inspection based on the date and the rating of the previous inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed to Good. Improvements had been made since the last inspection and the provider was no longer in breach of the regulations. Quality assurance processes required further improvement and the ‘well led’ key question remains ‘Requires Improvement’.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.