Care Companions Limited

Updated 23 August 2023

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 2 inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the service was registered with us. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We made telephone contact with 3 people, 2 relatives and 3 care staff to gain their views of the service. We spoke with the registered manager who is also the provider of the service at their office and reviewed a range of records. Records we viewed included 2 care plans, medicine administration records, staff training records, and 3 staff employment records. We reviewed policies and procedures related to the service and discussed quality monitoring used for the provider to assure themselves people received a safe service.

Updated 23 August 2023

About the service

Care Companions a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care and support to people in their own homes. The service is registered to provide support to older people or younger adults living with dementia, mental health support needs, a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder and a physical disability. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 6 people. 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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, Right care, Right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not provide care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

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

Right Support:

People and their relatives were satisfied with the care and support provided and told us they had no complaints. People were mostly independent with taking their medicines, where support was provided, records were not always clearly completed. There were enough staff employed to undertake care calls and support people's care needs. People were supported by staff who understood their needs and were trained in recognising the signs of abuse. The provider had policies and procedures in place to support staff in their role. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care:

The provider completed recruitment checks to ensure staff were safe and suitable to work with people. Some of the checks were not clearly demonstrated within staff records. However, people received personalised care and support from staff that understood their needs. People’s privacy, dignity and independence was respected.

Right Culture:

Systems and processes to monitor the service were not always effective to support staff to work safely consistently. The provider was in the process of developing and implementing quality check systems to monitor the service provided and to check people received the quality of service they expected. Records were not always sufficiently detailed to clearly reflect safety risks to people and to help ensure a consistent approach by staff in managing these risks. Staff received an induction to the service and completed ongoing training to ensure they were safe, suitable, and had the necessary skills to provide effective care.

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 registered with us on 23 May 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.