Affinity Homecare Shrewsbury

Updated 24 April 2019

Background to this inspection

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

One inspector and an expert by experience carried out this inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. In this instance a family member receiving care in a residential setting.

Service and service type:

Affinity Homecare (Shrewsbury) is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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:

Inspection site visit activity started on 02 April 2019 and ended on 04 April 2019. We visited the office location on 04 April 2019 to see the registered manager and staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary care provider and the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did:

Before our inspection visit, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed information we held about the service in the form of statutory notifications received from the service and any safeguarding or whistleblowing incidents, which may have occurred. A statutory notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to send us by law.

We asked the local authority and Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. We used this information as part of our planning. 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, which promotes the views and experiences of people who use health and social care services.

We spoke with eight people who received services from Affinity Homecare (Shrewsbury) and four relatives. In addition, we spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and four care staff members.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care and support plans and medication records. We confirmed the safe recruitment of two staff members and reviewed records relating to the provider's quality monitoring, health and safety and staff training.

Updated 24 April 2019

About the service:

Affinity Homecare (Shrewsbury) is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults some of whom are living with dementia and younger disabled adults. Not everyone using Affinity Homecare (Shrewsbury) 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 70 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People received safe support with their medicines by competent staff members. The provider had systems in place to respond to any medicine errors should they occur. The provider completed regular checks to ensure people received the right medicine at the right time.

The provider had assessed risks to people associated with their care and support. Staff members were knowledgeable about these risks and knew what to do to minimise the risk of harm to people. The provider had systems in place to respond to any additional risks to people. Staff members were aware of the necessary action they should take in the event of an emergency.

The provider, and management team, had good links with the local communities within which people lived. The provider had systems in place to ensure the Care Quality Commission was notified of significant events in a timely manner and in accordance with their registration.

People received safe care and support as the staff team had been trained to recognise potential signs of abuse and understood what to do to safely support people. Staff members followed effective infection prevention and control procedures when supporting people in their own homes. Staff members had appropriate personal protection equipment supplied by the provider.

The provider supported staff in providing effective care for people through person-centred care planning, training and one-to-one supervision. Staff members were knowledgeable about the relevant legislations that informed their practice and supported the rights of those receiving services from Affinity Homecare (Shrewsbury).

People were supported to refer themselves for additional healthcare services when required. When appropriate people were supported to maintain a healthy diet by a staff team which knew their individual preferences.

People received help and support from a kind and compassionate staff team with whom they had positive relationships. People were supported by staff members who were aware of their individual protected characteristics like age, gender and disability. People were supported to retain their independence whilst living in their own homes.

People were provided with information in a way they could understand. The provider had systems in place to encourage and respond to any complaints or compliments from people or those close to them.

More information in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

Requires Improvement for the key questions ‘Safe,’ ‘Effective,’ ‘Responsive’ and ‘Well-led,’ and Good for ‘Caring.’ (Published 3 May 2018). At that inspection we found people’s medicines were not safely managed, risks were not comprehensively recorded, staff training did not account for people's specific health needs, care and support plans did not fully reflect people’s needs and the providers quality monitoring systems were not effective. At this inspection Affinity Homecare (Shrewsbury) had made the necessary improvements.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection, ‘Requires Improvement.’

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor all intelligence received about the service to ensure the next planned inspection is scheduled accordingly.

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