Background to this inspection
Updated
6 January 2022
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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The registered manager was also the registered provider who had registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they were legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary care provider and the provider is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure they would be in.
Inspection site visit activity started on 16 November 2021 and ended on 18 November 2021. We visited the office location on 18 November 2021, to see the provider and staff; and to review care records, policies and procedures.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Local authorities together with other agencies may have responsibility for funding people who used the service and monitoring its quality. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with two people who used the service and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including two health care assistants, one senior health care assistant, two deputy managers and the registered manager.
We reviewed a range of records. These included staff files to review safe recruitment practices, complaints and staff training records. In addition, we looked at a variety of documents relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring checks.
Updated
6 January 2022
About the service
Agape Homecare Ltd is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older people.
Not everyone using Agape Homecare Limited received a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service received by people provided with 'personal care': for example, help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 33 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were protected from the risk of potential abuse because staff had been trained to recognise signs of abuse and what to do to safeguard them.
Risk assessments were in place to promote people’s independence, whilst ensuring their safety. Staff were aware of measures to take to reduce or mitigate the potential risk to the individual.
People received support with their prescribed medicines from skilled staff. Systems were in place to monitor the management of people’s medicines. Staff had received infection, prevention and control training and followed procedures when supporting people. People were cared for by staff who had been safely recruited.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and the provider supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the application of the policies and systems supported good practice.
There was a clear management structure in place. Effective monitoring systems were in place to ensure people received a seamless service. People and staff were encouraged to have a say in the way the service was managed. The provider engaged with other agencies to ensure people received appropriate support and care.
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 good (published 13 June 2019).
Why we inspected
We received a number of concerns about the management of the service and allegations that abuse had occurred, and action had not been taken to safeguard people. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.
We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service remains good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.