Eboney Home Care Limited

Updated 29 December 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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 between 24 October and 29 October 2018 and was unannounced. One adult social care inspector carried out the inspection. Inspection site visit activity started on 24 October and ended on 29 October. It included visiting people in their homes and contacting people and their relatives by telephone to seek their views. We visited the office location on 24 and 29 October to see the provider, the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally required to let us know about. The inspection was informed by feedback from questionnaires completed by a number of people who used the service and other professionals. using the service. This confirmed improvements and complimented staff on their caring approach.

We used information the provider sent us in 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 spoke with three people who used the service. With their permission we visited three people in their own homes. We spoke with six relatives.

We also spoke with six staff including the provider, the registered manager, care coordinators and three care staff. We viewed three people’s care record and medicines records. We also reviewed three staff files in detail as well as a range of other records relating to the management and safety of the service.

Updated 29 December 2018

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home. 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. When we inspected there were 23 people receiving personal care. This inspection took place between 24 October and 29 October 2018.

At the last inspection in June 2016 the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the service had made significant improvements and we rated them as Outstanding in tone domain, namely Caring.

The service had a registered manager. 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 provider and the registered manager displayed their passion and commitment to the service, the people who used the service and their relatives.

People and relatives we spoke with praised the staff for the kind, compassionate and caring attention they provided. The service had built warm and open relationships with relatives which had had engendered their trust, and meant whenever possible each person had a team of carers built around them including the service and their family. Relatives valued highly the levels of communication between them and the staff. They felt better informed and able to respond to any emerging concerns.

Staff had spent time getting to know people well and were able to anticipate if people needed additional support. They were alert to possible changes which may have suggested a person was becoming unwell.

The service had a ‘can-do’ culture. This included problem solving when a person needed additional support. Everyone in the service was proud of how they had with the assistance of a relative responded to extreme winter conditions and got to everyone who needed a service.

There were many examples of staff being exceptionally caring from supporting special family occasions to involving the police when people were at immediate risk.

People who used the service were kept safe by a provider who had systems in place to ensure people received person-centred care based on their assessed needs and risks. Assessments which were carried out were used to develop care plans. Care plans documented the outcomes people wanted and how these were to be achieved. These were reviewed and changes made if a person’s needs changed.

The provider and the manager understood how to meet the regulatory requirements. They had continued to develop the service and look for opportunities which made a difference to people’s lives. Lessons had been learnt by the service and these were described in a CQC publication called, “Driving Improvement” published in June 2018.

The service liaised with commissioning authorities to meet people’s needs and enhance the quality of the lives of people who used the service. People were supported towards the end of their lives and their wishes were respected.

Staff felt they had support from the office staff and the management team. They described to us having confidence to contact the office or the managers directly to discuss safeguarding and other concerns. During our inspection we observed staff carrying out tasks to support people in the community.

The numbers of staff employed in the service was monitored by the registered manager and recruitment processes were carried out when necessary. Pre-employment checks were carried out before staff could start working in the service. Staff underwent an induction and they confirmed to us they received annual training updates. They were also supported through the use of supervision meetings with the registered manager and annual appraisals.

People received their medicines from staff who were trained and understood how people liked to take their medicines.

The provider and the registered manager were aware of potential issues of discrimination. Irrespective of a person’s age or health condition they had a voice and were listened to. The same non-discriminatory approach was taken to staff.

Health and safety checks were in place to ensure people who used the service and staff could be safe in people’s homes.

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 received the support they needed to meet with eating and drinking and to access health care services.

People did not raise any concerns during the inspection but told us they knew how to complain. In the past year the service had received one complaint. It was responded to immediately and a solution sought.

Systems were in place to effectively monitor the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below