We Care SW Ltd

Updated 4 July 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.

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 who was in the process of applying to be registered with the Care Quality Commission. This will mean 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 inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eighteen people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided (two people in person and 16 on the telephone). We spoke with eleven members of staff including the provider, manager, office apprentices, senior care workers, care workers and a visiting external trainer.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication 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 reviewed.

Updated 4 July 2019

About the service: Kinder Care and Support Ltd is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to older people who live in their own 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. At the time of this inspection Kinder Care and Support were providing personal care for 79 people.

People, relatives, staff and an external trainer spoke highly of Kinder Care and Support. The service had strong person-centred values and placed people at the heart of their work. People had access to a stable staff team they knew well and achieved positive outcomes and strong relationships.

People were fully involved in their care and their wishes respected. One person said, “I can’t tell you how amazing Kinder Care are. They really are top class and I have used other agencies.” People’s views were sought and their consent was always gained before any care took place. People were offered as many choices as possible and people and families could access their care plans at any time.

People’s care plans contained personalised information which detailed how they wanted their care to be delivered. Staff knew people well and expressed care and affection for them when speaking with us.

Staff were valued and supported by the provider and manager. All staff we spoke with were proud to work for the service and praised the high standards of care expected. Staff comments included, “We know people well. I really love coming to work and seeing people every day.”

Risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing were assessed and management plans were put in place to ensure these were reduced as much as possible.

People were protected from potential abuse by staff who had received training and were confident in raising concerns. There was a thorough recruitment process in place that checked potential staff were safe to work with people who may be vulnerable.

There was good leadership at the service and people, relatives and staff spoke highly of the provider and manager. There was a positive culture and staff felt their voices were listened to.

People were supported by kind and caring staff who worked hard to promote their independence and sense of wellbeing.

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 were provided with the training, supervision and support they needed to care for people well.

The provider and manager were passionate about improving the service and had plans for future projects to benefit people. They had worked hard to address the issues raised in the previous inspection. There were new and robust quality assurance systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service provided. These were embedded and working well.

The manager and their team were committed to delivering high quality and safe care to people and involving them in the planning of their care and the running of the service.

More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: This service was last inspected on 7 March 2018 where it was rated requires improvement overall. The areas of safe, effective, responsive and well led required improvement. During this inspection in 2019 we found these areas had been fully addressed and the service had improved to good.

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.