Archived: Acer Care

Updated 6 June 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: consisted one inspector.

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

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection was announced and took place on 1 May 2019. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection site visit to ensure the registered manager would be present and to ensure people's consent was gained for us to contact them for their feedback.

Inspection site visit activity started on and ended on 1 May 2019. We visited the office location on 1 May 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We contacted people who use the service and their relatives on 2 May 2019.

What we did:

Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used information the provider sent to us in the Provider Information return (PIR). We looked at information we held about the service, including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders, for example, the local authority and members of the public.

During the inspection, we spoke with five people using the service and one relative to ask about their experience of care. We spoke with the registered manager and the provider’s representative. We also spoke with six care staff.

We looked at the care records for five people, two staff employment records and information relating to the quality and management of the service, including compliments received and complaints management. We also looked at the systems for managing incidents and accidents.

Updated 6 June 2019

About the service: Acer Care is a domiciliary service which provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service provided care to 63 people.

People's experience of using this service:

People and their relatives were complimentary about the service provided and said they could rely on staff to provide the care agreed.

Staff understood the risks to people’s safety and supported them to reduce risks, whilst promoting their choices.

Staff knew how to identify concerns, such as allegations abuse, and understood how to protect people.

People’s needs were assessed, so staff could be sure they would be able to meet their needs.

People's care was planned with them and reflected their preferences. People, relatives and staff worked together to adapt people’s care plans as their needs and preferences changed.

Staff promoted people’s rights to independence, dignity and privacy when planning and providing their care.

Staff had developed the skills needed to care for people, and supported people to see other health and social care professionals, so they would enjoy the best health possible.

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

People were supported by a consistent staff team, and had developed strong bonds with staff who understood what was important to them, and how people liked to communicate.

Systems were in place to take learning from any complaints or concerns raised. People and their relatives knew how to raise any concerns and complaints and were confident these would be addressed.

People were complimentary about the way the service was provided and managed.

The registered manager considered people's views as part of their quality assurance processes. The registered manger planned to further develop their quality assurance system so they were assured people's needs continued to be met.

Staff were encouraged to reflect on the care provided so improvements to the service would be driven through.

We found the service met the characteristics of a "Good" rating.

Rating at last inspection: Good. The last report for Acer Care was published on 14 November 2016.

Why we inspected: This inspection was a scheduled inspection based on previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service and will inspect within 30 months of the report being published.

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