28 March 2018
During a routine inspection
Circle Of Care (Devon) Limited provides personal care to people in their own homes. They were registered with the Care Quality Commission in December 2012 as a domiciliary care service.
The service provides personal care to a range of older adults and younger adults living in their own houses and flats in Exmouth and the surrounding areas. These included people living with a dementia, a physical disability or sensory impairment. There were 35 people receiving a personal care service from the agency. Although the majority of people using the agency received a regulated activity, some received support visits only. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. The time of visits ranged from 30 minutes to one and a half hours, with the frequency of visits from once a week to four times a day. There were 32 full and part-time care staff employed.
At our last inspection in March 2016 we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.
Why the service is rated Good:
The provider of the service was also the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Like registered persons, 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. They were supported by a deputy manager and a management team.
People using the service, their family members, staff and health care professionals were happy with the care and praised the service provided. People were protected from abuse and harm because staff had a good understanding of how to respond to concerns. All of the management team would step in to provide personal care to people if required.
People received a service from staff that were recruited, trained and supported to provide a safe and effective service. All visits had been met and people were informed if a care worker might be late. Risks were assessed and managed in a skilled way to promote people’s welfare.
People received their medicines as needed and the service sought any health care advice from health care professionals.
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 practice. Staff demonstrated an understanding of their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. Where people lacked capacity, mental capacity assessments were completed and best interest decisions made in line with the MCA. People’s legal rights were upheld. They were involved in all decisions about their care, which was regularly reviewed.
The agency provided a service which was caring, respectful and promoted people’s privacy and dignity.
People had confidence that any issue or complaint would be handled according to the provider’s policy.
The registered manager was very experienced and led by example. They had a range of quality monitoring systems in place which were used to continually review and improve the service. People’s and staff views and suggestions were taken into account to improve the service.
Further information is in the detailed findings below.