Fourways Community Care

Updated 12 July 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 one adult social care inspector and two experts 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 for older people. The experts by experience telephoned a sample of people and their relatives to check if people were happy with their care and support.

Service and service type

Fourways Community Care is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. This includes people with physical disabilities and dementia care needs. The service provides personal care for people in short visits at key times of the day, longer visits and 24 hour care.

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 comprehensive inspection took place on 7 and 10 June 2019 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that we could access the office premises to look at records and arrange to visit people in their own homes.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information that we held about the service such as notifications. These are events that happen in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. We also considered the last inspection report and looked at the Provider Information Return (PIR). 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 of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three care staff, the registered manager/provider, service manager, care co-ordinator and administrator. We obtained consent from two people, who used the service, to visit them in their own homes. The experts by experience telephoned and spoke with 19 people who used the service and five relatives to gain their views of the service. We reviewed three staff recruitment files, supervision and training records, four care records and records relating to health and safety, safeguarding and other aspects of the service.

After the inspection

We received feedback from 10 care staff and one healthcare professional.

Updated 12 July 2019

Fourways Community Care is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. When we inspected the service was providing the regulated activity, personal care, to approximately 50 people in the Sidmouth area of South Devon.

People’s experience of using this service:

People using the service consistently told us they felt safe and staff treated them in a caring and respectful manner. Staff were exceptionally compassionate and kind and the care provided consistently exceeded people’s and their relatives’ expectations. Comments from people and their relatives included, “Very safe, they’re very helpful, they make sure she doesn’t fall and they ask her what she needs” and “They are all kind.”

People were supported by a stable staff team who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. Staff spoke passionately about the people they supported and were clearly committed to providing a responsive and caring service in line with people’s wishes. Staff were particularly sensitive to times when people needed caring and compassionate support and often went ‘the extra mile’ to support people’s emotional well-being.

There was a positive culture in the staff team. Management and staff were committed to ensuring people received an excellent service and particularly about helping people who might be a risk of being socially isolated. The service offered a free mini-bus service to take people out on weekly trips to local attractions as well as arranging annual Christmas and summer parties.

Staff respected and promoted people’s independence by providing equipment such as door ramps to enable people to go out in wheelchairs. Management worked with other organisations on projects that supported people living with dementia to go out independently in the community while remaining safe.

People were supported by a stable staff team who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. Staff spoke passionately about the people they supported and were clearly committed to providing a responsive and caring service in line with people’s wishes.

People had agreed the times of their visits and were given a list each week detailing the times of their visits and the names of the staff booked. People told us if the staff or times altered they were informed of these changes. No one reported ever having had any missed visits.

Assessments were carried out to identify any risks to the person using the service and to the staff supporting them. Care plans were personalised to the individual and recorded details about each person’s specific needs and wishes. These were kept under regular review and updated as people’s needs changed.

A new rota and care planning system had been introduced. Staff accessed their rotas and details of people’s needs on a mobile phone application. They told us this was effective and made it easy to keep up to date with any changes in people’s needs.

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

People were supported to access healthcare services, staff recognised changes in people's health, and sought professional advice appropriately.

New staff completed an induction which involved training and a period of shadowing more experienced staff. Training was refreshed so staff were up to date with any changes in working practices.

The service was well-led. There was a positive culture in the service. Management and staff were committed to ensuring people received a good service and particularly about helping people who might be a risk of being socially isolated. The service offered a free mini-bus service to take people out on weekly trips to local attractions as well as arranging annual Christmas and summer parties.

People, their relatives and staff told us management were approachable and they listened to them when they had any concerns or ideas. All feedback was used to make continuous improvements to the service.

Rating at last inspection: Good. Report published on 16 November 2016.

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

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.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Fourways Community Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.