Care Quality Services Northamptonshire

Updated 13 August 2022

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 carried out 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service two days’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We also gave time for the registered manager to send us inspection information, so we did not have to spend an extended amount of time in the office of the service.

Inspection activity started on 8 July 2022 and ended on 12 July 2022. We visited the office location on 11 July 2022. .

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service and we sought feedback from the local authority. The provider sent us a 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. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with nine people who used the service about their experience of the care provided to them. We spoke with three care staff members, the registered manager and provider’s head of operations manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included three care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found, which was sent to us. This included revised quality assurance procedures and amendments to procedures.

Updated 13 August 2022

Nobilis Northampton is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of inspection, 45 people were receiving personal care. 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.

Everyone, except one person, was very satisfied with the care that staff provided and with the management of the agency. They said safe care was provided, with people protected against abuse, neglect and discrimination.

Details of how to reduce risks to people's safety were included in people's care plans. Care plans reflected people’s individual needs.

Safe recruitment practices were in place to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service. Enough staff were employed to meet people's needs and timely calls were in place to provide personal care. Quality assurance systems were in place to try to ensure people were provided with a quality service.

People were largely protected against the risk of infection, though the registered manager had to remind some staff to continue to wear masks.

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 told us they were treated with respect and dignity and staff had a caring and friendly approach to them. They said staff fostered very good relationships with them.

Staff respected people's privacy and encouraged them to maintain their independence and do as much for themselves as they wanted to.

The registered manager understood their responsibilities and worked in an open and transparent way. Relatives were aware of how to approach the registered manager to raise concerns or complaints. They said the registered manager always listened to their views.

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

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us in August 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.