White River Homecare

Updated 15 February 2020

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

The 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 houses and flats.

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

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 provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the 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.

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registration. This included looking at information held on our database about the service for example, statutory notifications completed by the registered provider. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We reviewed a range of records. This included 2 staff recruitment files, training records, records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures and quality assurance processes developed and implemented by the provider. We reviewed 3 people's care records. We spoke with the registered provider and 4 members of staff. We met with staff from White River Home Care in their office.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with eight people who used the service. We visited one person in their own home. We communicated with eight staff members and two professionals to gain their views.

Updated 15 February 2020

About the service

White River is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in and around the St Austell area. On the day of the inspection the service was supporting 48 people with a range of health and social care needs, including people with a physical disability, sensory impairment or people living with dementia. Support was tailored according to people's assessed needs within the context of people's individual preferences and lifestyles to help people to live and maintain independent lives and remain in their homes.

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

Recruitment systems had improved to ensure all staff had the necessary checks in place before starting to work for the agency.

Medicines were being managed safely following a review of how they should be recorded.

Changes to the service’s governance systems had ensured records were robust and peoples needs were being effectively recorded and managed.

Risks to people's health and safety were assessed and records showed these were being managed effectively.

Staff had access to a range of training which supported them in their role.

People told us they were confident concerns were always listened to and acted upon if necessary by management team.

Lessons were learned from incidents and accidents, by reflecting on them and putting systems in place to mitigate any further issues. Managers and staff were consistently open and transparent when things went wrong and kept records to demonstrate this.

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

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Requires improvement (published 2 February 2019) and there were breaches of regulations. 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.