Step Ahead Home Care Services

Updated 5 September 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

This inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 13 August 2019 and ended on 27 August 2019. We visited the office location on 13 and 22 August 2019.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed all the information we held about the service. We contacted relevant agencies such as the local Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

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.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and four relatives. We also spoke with three staff, the registered manager and the office manager.

We reviewed five people's care records, policies and procedures, records relating to the management of the service, including recruitment records, training records and quality audits.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found. We looked at key documents and quality assurance records.

Updated 5 September 2019

About the service

Step Ahead Home Care Services is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to older people and younger adults. At the time of inspection, the service was providing personal care to 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

Since our last inspection of the service, there had been improvements in the quality monitoring systems. However, although there was no impact on people who used the service, we have made a recommendation about the need to keep these under review to ensure all records are accurately maintained.

Overall, medicines were managed safely. Action was taken at the time of the inspection to improve medicines records. We have made a recommendation about medicines support records.

Since our last inspection there had been improvements in the way care plans were written. They now contained detailed information to guide staff in how to support people.

People felt safe and trusted the staff. They were supported by staff who were trained to recognise and report any signs of abuse. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs in a consistent and flexible way. Staff were recruited safely. Most individual risks were managed appropriately. Risks regarding the use of oxygen needed to be more robust.

People told us staff were caring, treated them well and respected their privacy and dignity. 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. Staff received appropriate training and support to enable them to carry out their roles effectively. People received access to healthcare professionals when needed. The service raised concerns with health and social care professionals when necessary.

People thought the service was well led. We received compliments about the support and leadership of the service. The registered manager was open and transparent and created a culture which was friendly and welcoming. The service worked well with professionals and continued to support people to access their community.

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 requires improvement (published 16 August 2018) and there was one breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.