Archived: RV Care Limited (Somerset)

Updated 28 June 2016

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 was announced and took place on 7 and 13 April 2016. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

We spoke with nine people who used the service and one relative on the telephone. We met with three people who used the service in their own homes. We spoke with seven staff in the office, including a care co-ordinator, an administrator, three support workers, the registered manager and a senior manager. We looked at people’s paper records and documentation in relation to the management of the agency. This included staff supervision, training and recruitment records, quality auditing processes and policies and procedures.

Before our inspection, we looked at previous inspection reports and notifications we had received. Services tell us about important events relating to the care they provide using a notification. We asked the provider to complete a 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. The PIR was completed and returned to us on time.

Updated 28 June 2016

This inspection took place on 7 and 13 April 2016. This was an announced inspection which meant the provider knew two days before we would be visiting. This was because the location provides a domiciliary care service. We wanted to make sure the manager, or someone who could act on their behalf would be available to support our inspection.

RV Care Limited (Somerset) is a small domiciliary care agency, which provides care and support to people in their own homes on a short and long term basis. The agency currently supports people in Avonpark Village in Limpley Stoke and within Bath and the surrounding villages.

The agency had a registered manager in place. 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 registered manager was present throughout the inspection.

People were complimentary about the service they received. They said they had developed a good rapport with staff and felt safe, as staff knew them well. They said they were never worried about the possibility of their visit being missed and staff arrived on time, unless in very heavy traffic. In such cases, the office always notified them of the delay. People told us they never felt rushed and enjoyed their time with staff. They said staff promoted their privacy and dignity and supported them in a caring manner. People were aware of how to make a complaint and would confidently raise any issue of concern or abuse, if required. They were regularly asked their opinion of the service and were fully involved in the development of their care plan. People told us the service was responsive to their needs and their visit took place at a time, which was convenient to them. They said the office staff were flexible and able to change their visit at short notice, if needed.

Staff told us the consistency of visits enabled them to develop relationships and know people’s likes and dislikes. They said they were given sufficient time to travel from one person to another and had adequate time within each visit, to support people effectively. They said this meant they were rarely needing to rush or running late. Staff told us they had the required training to do their job effectively but could ask for additional support, if they were not sure about a particular topic. Staff told us they were very well supported and received regular informal and formal support from the management team.

The service was well managed with clear leadership. The registered manager had developed a range of systems since their appointment and was committed to improving the service further. This including slightly increasing the agency’s size and developing specialisms such as end of life care. There were enough staff to support people effectively with focused recruitment taking place, to accommodate new care packages. People were given consistency through the allocation of their visits. Regular audits and telephone interviews or visits to people, were effectively monitoring service provision. However, whilst people did not generally require staff support with their medicines, the medicines policy was in need of review. This was because the descriptions of whether staff prompted, assisted or administered medicines were not fully accurate.