Alimo Care Ltd

AliMo Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides support and personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides support to adults who have a range of physical, cognitive or mental health needs. The service is registered to provide support to people with a learning disability or a autistic people. At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, 45 people were receiving personal care from the service. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were protected from the risk of harm or abuse and told us they felt safe with the staff who supported them. Systems, policies and staff training helped to protect people and ensure actions would be taken if there were concerns. Staff worked with people and other agencies to manage risks.

Risks to people's health, safety and well-being were assessed and reviewed regularly. Staff knew people well and supported them to remain as independent as possible and risks were managed in people’s best interests. People were supported by staff who were trained and competent in helping them with medicines.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People and their relatives were positive about staff and the service they received. Support was usually provided by staff who knew people well. Staff received a comprehensive induction with ongoing training, supervision and monitoring. Enough staff were employed, and safe recruitment practices were in place.

There was a positive culture and staff at all levels were passionate about providing a high quality service with the person at the centre. People and their relatives told us the service was consistently well-led. Staff felt respected, valued and supported and were proud to work for the service.

Governance systems and processes were effective and helped the registered manager to monitor standards and continue providing high quality support. Actions were taken to manage risks or make changes when shortfalls were identified.

Feedback from people and their relatives was positive, and surveys and reviews were carried out regularly to check people remained happy and the service met their needs. People and their relatives told us they felt able to raise concerns or complaints with the managers, although most added that they had not needed to do this. The registered manager was open and keen to learn to continually improve the service.

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 5 January 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector. At the time of this inspection the service was providing the regulated activity of personal care to 57 people who lived in their own homes. These services were managed by the agency from an office in South Gloucestershire. The management team consisted of the provider who was also the registered manager, a deputy care manager, a care co-ordinator and an office manager.

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.

The feedback we received from people and staff was very positive throughout.

The safety of people who used the service was taken seriously and the registered manager and staff were aware of their responsibility to protect people’s health and wellbeing. There were systems in place to ensure that risks to people’s safety and wellbeing were identified and addressed.

The whole staff team were highly motivated and proud of the service. All staff were fully supported by the management team and a programme of training and supervision enabled them to provide a good quality service to people. The registered manager, provider and all staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and, worked to ensure people's rights were respected.

The registered manager ensured that staff had a full understanding of people’s care needs and had the skills and knowledge to meet them. People received consistent support from staff who knew them well. People had positive, caring relationships with staff and were confident in the service. People who used the service felt they were treated with kindness and said their privacy and dignity was always respected.

People received a service that was based on their personal needs and wishes. Changes in people’s needs were quickly identified and their care was amended to meet their changing needs. The service was flexible and responded very positively to people’s requests. People who used the service felt able to make requests and express their opinions and views. There was a dedicated palliative care team to support those people nearing the end of their life who wished to die at home.

People benefitted from a service that was well led. The vision, values and culture of the service were clearly communicated to and understood by staff. The registered manager was very committed to continuous improvement. They demonstrated good values and, a desire to learn about and implement best practice throughout the service.

The registered manager demonstrated a good understanding of the importance of effective quality assurance systems. There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the service.