Supreme Homecare

Updated 29 November 2018

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 took place on 6 November 2018 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors.

Before we visited the service we checked the information we held about the service and the service provider. This included any notifications and safeguarding alerts. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. The inspection was informed by feedback from professionals which included the local borough contracts and commissioning teams that had placed people with the service, and the local borough safeguarding adult’s team.

During our inspection we spoke with the registered manager, the director of the service, the compliance manager, the senior care coordinator, and three care workers. We also spoke to four people who used the service and five relatives. We looked at five care files which included care plans and risk assessments, four staff files which included supervision records, appraisal records and recruitment records, quality assurance records, medicine records, training information, and policies and procedures.

Updated 29 November 2018

We inspected Supreme Homecare on 6 November 2018. The inspection was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. Our last inspection took place on the 24 October 2016 and we found one breach of regulation in relation to person-centred care. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the service was no longer in breach.

Supreme Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of the inspection it was providing a service to 40 people.

The service had a registered manager. 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.

People received care which protected them from avoidable harm and abuse. Staff understood people's needs and knew how to protect them from the risk of abuse. Risks to people's safety were identified and assessments were in place to manage identified risks. Where people required support to take prescribed medicines, staff had received training to assist people safely.

There were enough skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of people who used the service. People were supported by staff who had the skills and training to meet their needs. Recruitment checks were completed on new staff to ensure they were suitable to support people who used the service. Where required, people were supported to have sufficient to eat and drink, and their health needs were regularly monitored.

Staff understood their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were involved in making every day decisions and choices about how they wanted to live their lives.

People were supported by a team of regular staff that they knew and who they said were kind and caring. Staff respected people's privacy and dignity and promoted their independence. People and their relatives said the support they received helped people who used the service live independently in their own homes.

The service was responsive to people's needs and wishes. People and their relatives told us the punctuality of the care staff had improved. People were provided with care and support which was individual to them. Care plans were detailed and personalised. People's care and support needs were reviewed regularly. The service had end of life policies and procedures in place.

People’s cultural and religious needs were respected when planning and delivering care. Discussions with staff members showed that they respected people’s sexual orientation so that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people could feel accepted and welcomed in the service.

Staff told us the registered manager was supportive. People liked the registered manager and found her helpful. The service had various quality assurance and monitoring mechanisms in place.