Daley Home Care

Updated 31 May 2018

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.

The inspection took place on 25 and 26 April 2018 and was announced.

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an expert by experience on the first day and one inspector on the second day. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. They had experience in dementia and community based services.

Before the inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service. This included notifications the provider had sent us. A notification is the means by which providers tell us important information that affects the running of the service and the care people receive. We contacted the local authority to obtain their views about the service.

We had requested and received a Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed this information prior to the inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with 11 people who used the service and four relatives. We also spoke with seven members of staff, the registered manager and the provider.

We looked at a range of records during the inspection, these included eight care records. We also looked at information relating to the management of the service including quality assurance audits, health and safety records, policies, risk assessments, meeting minutes and staff training records. We looked at three staff files, the recruitment process, complaints, training and supervision records.

Following our inspection visit, we requested assurances about the governance of the service due to planned changes in the office staff. This information was provided by email.

Updated 31 May 2018

The inspection took place on the 25 and 26 April 2018 and was announced.

At our last comprehensive inspection on 9 and 10 February 2017 we found that the provider had not completed assessments or best interests decisions in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. We also found that the service did not always maintain accurate records about people or the risks they faced and that the provider did not have systems that effectively monitored the quality and safety of people using the service.

We found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We asked the provider to take steps to improve and ensure that they were compliant. Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to improve the key questions Effective and Well Led to at least good. At this inspection we found that improvements had been made.

The service is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 49 people.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. It provides a service to older adults, younger adults, people with dementia or mental health diagnoses, physical disability or sensory impairment. Not everyone using Daley Home Care receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

Daley Home Care office is situated in Salwayash which is on the outskirts of Bridport. It provides support to people living in Bridport and the surrounding area.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

People were protected from the risk of harm by staff who understood the possible signs of abuse and how to recognise these and report any concerns. Staff were also aware of the risks that people faced and understood their role in managing these to ensure people received safe care.

People were supported by enough staff to provide effective, person centred support. Staff were recruited safely with appropriate pre-employment checks and received training and support to ensure that they had the necessary skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs.

People received their medicines as prescribed and staff recorded these accurately. People were supported to access healthcare professionals when required and the service worked with a number of external agencies to ensure that people received joined up, consistent care.

People were supported from the spread of infection by staff who understood their role in infection control and used appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

People were supported to make choices about all areas of their support and staff understood the principles of mental capacity.

People were supported to have enough to eat and drink. People’s preferences for meals were well known and staff offered people choices about what they ate and drank.

People and those important to them were involved in planning the support they would receive and were asked for their views about the support and any changes to people’s needs. Reviews identified where people’s needs had changed and reflected changes to the support provided in response to this.

People were supported by staff who respected their individuality and protected their privacy. Staff understood how to advocate and support people to ensure that their views were heard and told us that they would ensure that people’s religious or other beliefs were supported and protected. Staff had undertaken training in equality and diversity and understood how to use this learning in practice.

People and relatives spoke positively about staff and we observed that interactions with people were kind and compassionate.

Staff were confident in their roles and felt supported by the office team. Feedback from people and relatives indicated that the office was approachable, helpful and took actions where necessary.

Some office staff had resigned at the time of inspection. The registered manager and provider were in the process of recruiting and gave assurances about how staff and people would be supported with the planned changes in office staff.

Quality assurance measures were used to highlight whether any changes to policy, processes or improvements in practice were required.