Advance Home Care Ltd

Updated 3 September 2022

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008..

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and two Experts by Experience. Experts by Experience are people who have personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Advance Home Care Ltd (also known as Carewatch Kingston & Merton) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in their office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 4 August 2022 and ended on 10 August 2022. We visited the provider’s office on 10 August 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since their last inspection which we used to plan our inspection. This included telephone and email feedback we received from nine people who received a home care service from this provider, eight relatives, two local authority social care professionals and six care staff who worked for the agency.

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke in-person with the registered manager, the deputy manager and an external consultant the provider had a contract with.

Records we looked as part of this inspection included, six people’s care plans and three staff files in relation to their recruitment, training and supervision, and a variety of other records relating to the overall management and governance of the agency.

After we visited the provider’s office we continued to seek clarification from them to validate evidence found. We requested the provider send us additional evidence after our inspection in relation to staff’s character and/or employment references and Disclosure and Barring Services [DBS] checks. A DBS is a criminal records check employers undertake to make safer recruitment decisions.

Updated 3 September 2022

About the service

Advance Home Care Ltd (also known as Carewatch Kingston & Merton) is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 90 people were receiving a home care service from this provider.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

People using the service, their relatives and community social care professionals all told us they were satisfied with the standard of care and support provided by this home care agency. One person using the service said, “I am very happy with them. I have a great rapport with the carers who are all lovely. I would absolutely not hesitate to recommend this agency to anyone”. A community professional added, “The overall quality seems to be generally of a good standard.”

The service was safe. People were kept safe and protected against the risk of avoidable harm and abuse. People received consistently good-quality and safe care from the same group of staff who were familiar with their needs and preferences. The fitness and suitability of staff to work in adult social care had been thoroughly assessed as part of the providers robust recruitment procedures. Staff followed current best practice guidelines regarding the prevention and control of infection, including those associated with COVID-19. The provider had measures in place to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19 related staff workforce pressures. Medicines were well-organised and people received their prescribed medicines as and when they should.

The service was effective. Staff who had the right mix of knowledge, skills and support to deliver good-quality, safe care. Assessments of people’s support needs and wishes were carried out before they started receiving any care at home support from this agency. Where staff were responsible for assisting people to eat and drink, people’s dietary needs and wishes were met. People were supported to stay healthy and well, and to access relevant community health and social care services as and when required. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received a caring service. People were treated equally and had their human rights and diversity respected, including their cultural and spiritual needs and wishes. Staff treated people with dignity and upheld their right to privacy. People typically described staff as “caring”. People were encouraged and supported to maintain their independent living skills and do as much for themselves as they were willing and capable of doing so safely.

The provider was responsive. People's care plans were person-centred, which helped staff provide them with the individualised care at home they needed. Staff ensured they communicated and shared information with people in a way they could easily understand. People were encouraged to make decisions about the care and support they received at home and staff respected their informed choices. Where appropriate, people's end of life wishes and contacts were known and recorded for staff to refer to.

The service was well-led. People , their relatives and staff were all complimentary about the way the office-based managers ran the service, and how approachable they were. The registered manager promoted an open and inclusive culture which sought the views of people, their relatives and staff. The provider worked in close partnership with other health and social care professionals and agencies to plan and deliver people's packages of care at home.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was re-registered with us on 28 April 2022 and this is their first inspection since they changed address. The last rating for this service at the previous premises was good (published 25 February 2019).

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staff missing visits.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at further risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led key question sections of this full report.

The overall rating for the service is good based on the findings of this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect. If we receive any concerning information, we may inspect sooner.