Updated 22 March 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team: The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector 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 for older people. Their area of expertise was in older people’s care.
Service and service type: Bodmin STEPS (Short term enablement and planning service) is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. The service provides support to both older people and younger adults.
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: This comprehensive inspection took place on 26 and 27 February 2019 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that we could access the office premises to look at records and arrange to visit people in their own homes.
What we did: Before the inspection we reviewed the Provider Information Record (PIR) and previous inspection reports before the inspection. The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and the improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed the information we held about the service and notifications of incidents we had received. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.
During the inspection we spoke with five care staff, three team leaders and the registered manager. We obtained consent from two people, who used the service, to visit them in their own homes. The expert by experience telephoned and spoke with 13 people who used the service and two relatives to gain their views of the service. We reviewed three staff recruitment files, supervision and training records, four care records and records relating to health and safety, safeguarding and other aspects of the service.