Vine House Care Ltd

Updated 5 June 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 was conducted by one inspector. An expert by experience made phone calls to people and relatives to ask their opinions about the service provided. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Vine house Care Ltd is a domiciliary care provider in St Leonards On-Sea, East Sussex, which is situated close to the coast. Not everyone using Vine House Care Ltd receives 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.

The service did not have a manager currently registered with the Care Quality Commission. A registered manager 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. The current manager had recently applied to CQC to become registered.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. This was because we needed to gain consent from people and their relatives to receive phone calls from the expert by experience.

Inspection activity started on 7 May 2019 and ended on 10 May 2019. We visited the office location on 8 May 2019 and 10 May 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. Due to technical problems, the provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). 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. However, we referred to the previous (PIR) and the registered manager gave us an update on progress made since then. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection we looked at rotas and contingency plans, quality assurance processes and records of accidents, incidents and complaints. We reviewed five people’s care records and four staff files. This included information about recruitment, training and supervision. We also spoke with four people using the service, four relatives, the manager, the compliance officer, a supervisor, the care coordinator and two members of care staff.

Following the inspection, we spoke one health and social care professional about their views of the service.

Updated 5 June 2019

About the service:

Vine House Care Ltd is a domiciliary care provider that was providing personal and nursing care to 27 people at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

Although improvements had been made from the previous inspection, we found that records about people were still not up to date with their current care needs.

People with specific health needs did not have robust assessments to inform staff about support needs or signs that they were unwell. Improvements were also needed to documentation where people required support to make decisions about their care.

Although records required improvement, there was limited impact on people because staff knew them and their support needs very well. The manager agreed this was an area for improvement and by the third day of inspection, had already implemented changes to improve.

People told us they felt safe and one person said, “I feel safe in the presence of the carers, they always reassure me.” Staff knew people and risks to their safety very well.

There were enough staff to meet the needs of people and staff were recruited safely. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding, such as signs that a person could be at risk and who to report to.

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 processes in the service supported this practice.

People, their relatives and a professional were confident that staff had the skills and knowledge to support people. They had received specialised training to meet the needs of people. Staff worked in partnership with health and social care professionals to improve people’s wellbeing.

Everyone we talked to spoke highly of the staff and told us they were, “Kind”, “Caring” and, “Attentive.” Staff worked with the same people each week and had therefore built strong relationships with them. People’s independence, dignity and privacy was continually promoted.

Staff understood people’s communication needs well and used a variety of tools to aid this. Care was personalised to people’s preferences and wishes and regularly reviewed.

Although no-one was receiving end of life care at the time of inspection, we saw thank you cards from relatives who said staff were, “So caring, thoughtful and loving” when they had supported people at this time of their lives.

Although there were areas identified for improvement in documentation, everyone we spoke with was unanimous in their views that the service was well-led. There had been a change of manager but no-one felt that this impacted on the care provided and they spoke highly of the new manager.

Staff felt well supported and part of a strong, passionate team, with an open and honest culture.

Rating at last inspection:

At their last inspection in May 2018, Vine House was rated Requires Improvement. (Report published 15 June 2018)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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