Archived: Serenity - Birmingham

Updated 16 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 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.

This inspection took place on 21 June 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice so we could ensure that care records and staff were available to help inform our inspection. The inspection was conducted by one 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 service.

As part of our inspection, we reviewed the information we already held about the provider. Providers are required to notify the Care Quality Commission about specific events and incidents that occur, including serious injuries to people receiving care and any safeguarding matters. These help us to plan our inspection. Before the inspection, the provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) and returned this to us within the timescale requested. 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 received feedback from the local authorities who monitor the quality of the service. We reviewed the information from commissioners, notifications and within the PIR to plan the areas we wanted to focus our inspection on.

Prior to our inspection we sent questionnaires to some people using the service. We received responses from 13 people. During our inspection, we spoke with 10 people who used the service and the relatives of six other people. We spoke with four care staff, a care co-ordinator, the deputy manager, the registered manager and the registered provider. We also reviewed four people’s care records, four staff files and records maintained by the service about risk management, staffing, training and quality assurance.

Updated 16 August 2017

The inspection took place on 21 June 2017 and was announced. The service is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people. At the time of our inspection, there were 61 people using the service. There was a registered manager in place. 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 our last inspection in May 2016 we found that the service was not meeting all of the regulations. At this inspection we found that issues had been addressed and the regulations were met.

People were protected from the risk of potential abuse and told us they felt safe when the staff visited. Staff had a clear understanding of the procedures in place to safeguard people from abuse.

We found the service employed enough staff to meet the needs of the people being supported. The support provided was usually from a consistent group of staff who had been safely recruited. People who used the service told us they had not experienced any missed calls and that calls were usually on time.

People who needed support with their medicines were supported appropriately. Staff knew how to dispense medicines safely and there were regular checks to make sure this was done properly.

Staff received regular training and were knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities. They had the skills, knowledge and experience required to support people with their care and support needs. Staff were well supported and received regular supervision.

People were involved in deciding how they wanted their care to be delivered and were supported in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People said staff were caring and treated them with dignity and respect. People felt the care they had received met their needs. We found the information contained in the care records was individualised and clearly identified people's needs and preferences.

Staff had been encouraged to support people to make choices. People were supported when required by staff to prepare their meals and to eat and drink enough to maintain good health. People were supported to access healthcare support when necessary.

The registered provider sought feedback from people using the service and their relatives in respect of the quality of care provided and had arrangements in place to deal with any concerns or complaints. The registered provider had developed a complaints procedure. People said they felt confident to raise complaints and knew who to contact if they had any concerns.

People and relatives were encouraged to share their views and feedback on the service through regular care plan reviews, questionnaires and the complaints and compliments process.

There was effective leadership from the registered provider, registered manager and senior members of staff and processes were in place to monitor the quality of the service provided.