Alice Chilton In-Home Care Services Limited

Updated 9 March 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of an adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

Alice Chilton in Home Care is a domiciliary care service providing support and personal care to people in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality commission. This means they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a small service and we needed to make sure that someone would be available.

The inspection site visit started on 5 February 2019 and ended on 8 February 2019. It included telephone calls people who used the service, staff and to relatives. We visited the registered provider's office on 5 February 2019 to see the registered manager and to review care records and other records relevant to the quality monitoring of the service.

What we did:

Our planning took into account information the provider sent us since the last inspection. We also considered information about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we looked at issues raised in complaints and how the service responded to them. We assessed the PIR. 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. Additionally we contacted the local authority for feedback. There was no information to share. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with two people using the service and four family members to ask about their experience of care. We also spoke with the registered manager, the registered provider and five members of staff.

We looked at four people’s care records and a selection of other records including quality monitoring records, recruitment and training records for two staff.

Updated 9 March 2019

About the service: Alice Chilton in Home Care is a small domiciliary care service that provides support and personal care to a small number of older people.

People’s experience of using this service: Peoples care was exceptionally person centred, responsive to their diverse needs and clearly emphasised the importance of supporting people in a way which was right for them. We observed, heard and read examples of how people’s routines and choices were paramount in developing a truly bespoke and well managed package of care. Staff demonstrated their commitment to ensuing people received excellent standards of care and support. People and their relatives described strong relationships they had built with staff and discussed how care from Alice Chiton in Home Care had exceeded their expectations.

Everyone told us they felt safe receiving care from the staff. Staffing were deployed in suitable numbers, and staff had time to spend with people and were not rushed. Medication needs were assessed, and medication was only given by staff who were trained to do so. Staff were recruited safely, and incident and accidents were analysed for patterns and trends. Risks to people were assessed safely. Rotas were completed using an electronic rostering system.

Staff had the correct skills to support people and all of their training courses were up to date and recorded in a training matrix. Staff were required to engage in supervision and had had an annual appraisal. People were supported to eat and drink in accordance with their needs. Decisions and consent to care and treatment was sought in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

We received positive comments about the staff in relation to the support they provided. Everyone said they were kind and caring. Staff were able to describe how they ensured people’s dignity was respected. People and their relatives said they were involved in their care plans.

The service was managed well, the ethos and culture of the service was well implemented with the staff team that provided the care. Staff all spoke fondly about the registered manager and spoke about their roles with enthusiasm and pride. Audits were in place which were effective in highlighting any areas for improvement. Action plans were drawn up and shared with the registered provider as well as the staff teams. The registered manager engaged with people who used the service to ensure any areas were improvements were needed were being actioned. The registered manager was aware of their role with CQC and had notified us of all incidents as required.

Rating at last inspection: Rated good, report published August 2016.

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection in line with our methodology.

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

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