Archived: Home Angels Chorley

Updated 4 July 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 28 April and 3 May 2017. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection to ensure the registered manager and other key members of staff would be available to answer our questions.

The Inspection was carried out by an adult social care inspector. Telephone calls were made to people and relatives on the 3 May to talk with them about their experience of the service. We visited the registered office on the 28 April to look at records, which included five care plans, four staff files, quality audits, team meeting notes and other associated documents.

We spoke with a range of people about the service, this included three people who used the service, four relatives and seven member of staff including the Registered Manager and Office Manager.

Updated 4 July 2017

Home Angels Chorley is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care for people in their own homes. The agency specialises in the provision of care and support for people with dementia and also specialises in end of life care. The agency operates from an office situated in a business park close to Chorley town centre which was registered with the Care Quality Commission on 18 December 2015. Previous to this the agency operated from other premises all in the Chorley area.

This inspection took place on the 28 April and 3 May 2017 and was announced to ensure that the Registered Manager and appropriate staff were available to speak with.

The Registered Manager was present during the visit to the registered premises and was cooperative throughout the inspection process. The Registered Manager is also the registered provider and Nominated Individual for the service. 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.

The service was registered with the Care Quality Commission in December 2015. We last inspected Home Angels Chorley in April and May 2016. At the inspection in 2016 we found the service was not meeting one of the regulations we assessed and we asked the provider to take action to make improvements. This was in relation to people’s safe care and treatment. The service as a consequence was rated as Requires Improvement overall and also for the domains of ‘safe’, and ‘responsive’.

We issued one requirement notice and asked the registered provider to tell us how they were going to make the improvements required. At this inspection we found that the registered provider and registered manager had made the changes and improvements needed to meet the requirement notice issued from the previous inspection.

People we spoke with told us they felt safe receiving care and support and that carers respected them and their home environment.

The service had safeguarding and whistleblowing policies in place which staff understood clearly.

Staffing levels were seen to be in place to meet the assessed needs of people receiving care and support from Home Angels Chorley. People who used the service, relatives and staff raised no issues with regard to staffing levels.

People and their relatives spoke highly of the staff that supported them and they told us that they believed care staff to be competent, caring and approachable.

Staff received an appropriate induction prior to them working alone and received on-going training and support in order to carry out their role effectively.

The service was working within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and staff spoken with were aware of how the legislation affected, or could potentially affect the people they cared for. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

People who were assisted with their nutritional and hydration needs told us they had no concerns in this area and were supported to eat and drink a healthy diet.

The service provided end of life care to support people to remain at home during their final days of life. Trained staff using training resources designed by NHS England, were also available, as needed. Staff spoke passionately about their role in keeping people at home at the end of their life.

Care plans were seen to contain good detail and were regularly reviewed. People we spoke with told us they were involved in the design of their care, if they wanted to be. Staff told us that they felt care plans had improved since our last inspection and that appropriate guidance was in place for them to deliver an effective service.

People we spoke with and their relatives told us they knew how to raise issues or make a complaint and that communication with the service was good.

People and relatives we spoke with talked positively about the management of the service, the staff and the care and support they or their loved ones received.

We saw evidence of robust quality checks and auditing at the service across a wide range of areas.

Good links were in place with a number of external organisations including commissioners of the service.