Cherish UK Ltd

Updated 27 September 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 inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is someone who has personal experience of caring for people with care needs similar to those using the services of Cherish UK.

Service and service type:

Cherish UK is a ‘domiciliary care service’ where people receive care and support in their own homes. Therefore, the CQC only regulates the care provided to people and not the premises they live in.

The service had a manager registered with the CQC. 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:

The inspection was announced on 15 July 2019 to ensure the inspection could be facilitated by the registered manager at the location office. We also needed to obtain contact telephone numbers for people who used the service and their relatives so we could contact them and ask about the services they received.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information and evidence we already held about this service, which had been collected via our ongoing monitoring of care services. This included notifications sent to us by the service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay.

We also viewed the provider information return (PIR). 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 contacted Wigan local authority for feedback and other stakeholders who had involvement with the service.

The first of day of the inspection was spent speaking with people who used the service and their relatives via telephone to ask about the service they received. The second and third days were spent at the main office reviewing documentation, speaking with staff and also visiting people who used the service at home.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, eight care staff, two care coordinators, 20 people who used the service and 12 relatives. This was to seek their feedback about what it was like to receive care from and work for Cherish UK.

Documentation reviewed included 10 care plans, five staff personnel files, eight medicine administration records (MARs) and other records about the management of the service to help inform our inspection judgements.

Updated 27 September 2019

About the service:

Cherish UK is a domiciliary care service based in Standish, Wigan and provides personal care and support to people in their own homes.

People’s experience of using this service:

We carried out this inspection on 16,18 and 22 July 2019. At the time of the inspection there were approximately 230 people using the service across the Wigan areas of Atherton, Ashton, Golbourne and Lowton.

People were supported to access the local community and participate in activities of their choice. We saw a number of examples where the staff team had gone ‘above and beyond’ expectations of them to ensure people could continue to pursue their hobbies and interests.

People said they felt safe using the service, with staff demonstrating a good understanding about how to protect people from the risk of harm.

People received their medicines safely.

Staff were recruited safely, with appropriate checks carried out to ensure risks were minimised.

There were enough staff to care for people safely.

Accidents and incidents were monitored and any actions taken to prevent future re-occurrence were recorded.

People received the support they needed to eat and drink.

Appropriate systems were in place regarding the Mental Capacity At (2005).

People using the service and visiting relatives made positive comments about the care provided by Cherish UK. The feedback we received from people we spoke with was that staff were kind and caring towards people.

People said they felt treated with dignity and respect and staff promoted their independence as required.

Complaints were handled appropriately. Compliments were also recorded about the quality of service provided.

Audits and quality assurance systems were in place at both managerial and provider level.

The feedback we received about management and leadership was positive.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published July 2018). The inspection was carried out in May 2018.

Why we inspected:

This was a routine comprehensive inspection and in line with our timescales to inspecting Requires Improvement rated services.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the service to ensure good quality care is provided to people. We will return to re-inspect in line with our inspection timescales for Good rated services, however if information of concern is received, we may inspect sooner.