Great Park Homecare

Updated 17 August 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

This was a comprehensive inspection.

Our inspection took place on 21 July 2017 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of our inspection because the management team were often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in for our inspection.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care 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. The Expert by Experience conducted telephone interviews with people who used the service.

Before our inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed information we already held about the service. This included previous notifications we had received. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We also checked information held by Companies House and the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Prior to our inspection, we sent 73 surveys to people who used the service, relatives or friends of people, staff and community healthcare professionals. We received 14 responses. Prior to our inspection, we spoke with nine people who used the service. At our inspection, we spoke with the nominated individual, registered manager and a company director.

We looked at seven people’s care records, four staff personnel files and other records about the safe management of the service and quality of care. After the inspection, we asked the registered manager to send us further documents and we received and reviewed this information.

Updated 17 August 2017

Our inspection took place on 21 July 2017 and was announced.

Heritage Healthcare Windsor provides care at home to adults in East Berkshire, South Buckinghamshire and Slough. Only personal care is regulated by law, and our inspection has included evidence about this and not other support offered by the service. The service provides care for older adults, some of whom experience dementia. At the time of our inspection, the service provided support to about 30 people and this was growing.

The service must have a registered manager. 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.

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

This is our first inspection of the service since their registration with us.

We found people were protected against abuse or neglect. Staff attended training that ensured their knowledge of safeguarding people was up-to-date. People had personalised risk assessments tailored to their support requirements. We saw sufficient staff were deployed to provide people’s support. We found medicines were safely managed but the service should review national best practice guidance. We made a recommendation about the service’s medicines policy.

Staff received appropriate support from the service and management to ensure their knowledge, skills and experience were appropriate for their roles. The service was not compliant with the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. This was because the policy and documentation used by the service to record relevant information was not in line with the legal requirements. We made a recommendation about this. People had access and support to visit community healthcare professionals.

Staff at Heritage Healthcare Windsor were caring. The service had received many compliments about the care received. Community healthcare professionals and relatives we surveyed felt staff were kind. People participated in care planning and relatives often contributed to tailoring support packages which were suitable to people’s needs. The service had appropriately considered communication barriers in the provision of personal care and implemented strategies to ensure people and their relatives could hold meaningful conversations.

People had satisfactory support plans which were regularly reviewed. We found the plans contained detailed information relevant to each person who used the service. There was an appropriate complaints system in place and the management team handled concerns robustly.

The service was well-led. There was a positive workplace culture and staff felt that management listened to what they had to say. We saw there were audits and checks completed by the management and provider to measure the safety and quality of care. We found the service did not use any tool to record positive changes they made to the quality of their care. We made a recommendation about the use of an action plan or service improvement plan. The service was very active within the local community, and linked with associations and other organisations to enrich the lives of people who used the service.