Kent Home Care Limited

Updated 22 August 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. 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type:

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission during the time of our inspection. Registered persons 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 inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection and we also needed to be sure people consented to us contacting them for their views.

Inspection activity started on 13 June 2019 and ended on 17 June 2019. We visited the office location on 13 June 2019.

What we did before the inspection:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection:

We spoke with two people and three relatives of people who used the service. We spoke with the registered manager and deputy manager. We used this information to form part of our judgement. We looked at four people’s care records to see how their care was planned and delivered, this including their medication records. Other records looked at included recruitment files to check suitable staff members were recruited and received appropriate training. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service along with a selection of the provider’s policies and procedures, to ensure people received a good quality service.

Updated 22 August 2019

About the service

Kent Home Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency that provides live in care within people’s own homes for older adults with a variety of needs, including people living with dementia, mental health conditions or a physical disability. At the time of our inspection the agency was supporting 25 people.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.

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

People and relatives told us they felt safe with care staff and staff were able to demonstrate a good awareness of each person's safety and how to minimise identified risks.

People were supported by live in care staff that were caring. People received care and support based on their individual needs and preferences. Staff were knowledgeable about people, their needs and preferences and used this to develop a good relationship with the people they visited.

People were supported by live in care staff who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. Staff understood their roles, felt confident and well supported.

People's health was supported as staff worked with other health/social care providers when needed to support people’s needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff understood they should support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People's care plans reflected people’s needs and preferences and the staff were able to explain recent changes to people’s care. People told us they were involved in assessments of their care needs and care plans were reviewed regularly and when people's needs changed.

People knew how to complain and that any concerns would be listened and responded to by the provider. The registered manager saw complaints as useful feedback from which to develop and improve the service.

People, relatives, staff and professionals gave us an overall positive picture about the quality of care people received, and said they were able to share their views comfortably with staff or the office.

People and their relatives told us the registered manager and staff were approachable, organised, listened and responded to them and acted on feedback when they shared this with them.

Quality monitoring systems included audits, spot checks on staff practice and regular checks on people’s satisfaction with the service they received, by surveys, phone calls or visits from the service’s management. Whilst the service was meeting people’s expectations the registered manager was keen to consider and was actively looking for ways to improve.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was ‘good’ (published 14 December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner