Archived: Flexserve UK Limited

Updated 29 April 2015

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.

We carried out an announced inspection on the 28 January 2015.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Prior to our visit, we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included significant events we had been notified about and any comments or complaints we had received.

During the inspection we spoke with 10 people who used the service or their relatives. We spoke with the Registered Manager, the home care manager and six care staff.

We inspected a variety of records including five care plans belonging to people who used the service, six staff files, staff duty rosters, and a number of policies and procedures for the service.

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Updated 29 April 2015

This inspection took place on the 28 January and was announced. At our last inspection in August 2013 the service was meeting the required standards.

Flexserve UK Limited provides support and personal care for adults with a particular focus on reablement. At the time of our inspection 19 people were using the service.

The service had a registered manager who had been in post since the service started in April 2011. 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’s needs were assessed and care plans were developed to identify what care and support people required. People said they were involved in their care planning and were happy to express their views or raise concerns. When people’s needs changed, this was quickly identified and prompt, appropriate action was taken to ensure people’s well-being was protected. People using the service told us they had a copy of their care plan in their home.

People using the service told us they felt safe. Staff understood how to recognise the signs and symptoms of potential abuse and told us they would report any concerns they may have to their manager.

The registered manager told us that assessments were undertaken to assess any risks to the people using the service and the staff supporting them. This included environmental risks and any risks due to people’s health and support needs. The risk assessments we viewed included information about action to be taken to minimise these of risks.

People said they found the staff polite and respectful. Staff were respectful of people’s privacy and maintained their dignity. Staff told us they gave people privacy whilst they undertook aspects of personal care, asking people how they would like things done and making enquiries as to their well-being to ensure people were comfortable.

We found however that there was no system of monitoring when a staff member’s training needed to be updated and some staff had not received any formal training whilst working with the agency.

We have made a recommendation about this in the main body of the report..

We saw that regular visits and phone calls had been made by the registered manager to all of the people using the service and/or their relatives in order to obtain feedback about the staff and the care provided.