Surrey Homecare Limited

Updated 27 April 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:

Our inspection was completed by five inspectors and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Our expert-by-experience had knowledge about personal care of adults using this type of service.

Service and service type:

Surrey Homecare Limited provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Services are provided to older people, people with mental health issues, physical and learning disabilities and sensory impairment.

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. The registered manager was present on the day of the inspection.

Notice of inspection:

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

We visited the office location on 3 April 2019 to see the registered manager, provider and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Our inspection was informed by evidence we already held about the service including notifications that the service sent us. We also checked for feedback we received from members of the public and local authorities. We checked records held by Companies House and the Provider Information Return. The PIR 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.

At the office we spoke with the registered manager, the provider and three members of staff. We reviewed 10 people's care records, medicine records, audits, recruitment records for three staff and other records about the management of the service. We met with four people, two relatives and two representatives of people. We also telephoned and spoke with nine people and five relatives.

Updated 27 April 2019

About the service:

Surrey Homecare Limited provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Services are provided to older people, people with mental health issues, physical and learning disabilities and sensory impairment. At the time of the inspection 66 people were receiving care in their own homes.

People’s experience of using this service:

At the previous inspection there was a lack of leadership and governance at the service. At this inspection we found that the new registered manager and provider had implemented a system of robust auditing and improvements were made as a result. People told us that the service management was good and staff felt more supported and valued. The atmosphere amongst staff was more positive and they felt the teamwork had improved.

On the previous inspection we found that people’s medicines records were not being completed appropriately. We also found that staff were not always staying for the full length of the call as they were not provided with travel time. At this inspection we found, that the management of medicines was undertaken in a safe way and systems were now in place to ensure that people’s medicines were not missed. There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide care. Where travel time had been introduced in between calls it meant that staff stayed for the full time. There were more robust systems in place to monitor whether staff were late for a call or if they had not turned up for a call.

Care plans were more detailed and reflected information on the person’s background and their wishes around care. Staff were aware of the care that people needed as care plans contained detailed guidance. Staff also communicated the needs of people through detailed care notes and meetings.

Systems were in place to ensure that staff received appropriate training and supervision to ensure that safe and effective care was delivered. There was a better understanding by staff of how to ensure that people were consenting to their care and if they were in doubt they would discuss this with their manager. People fed back that staff were caring and considerate towards them. People maintained good relationships with staff and were treated in a dignified and respectful way.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated Requires Improvement (the report was published on the 12 November 2018)

Why we inspected:

This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received. We wanted to follow up on breaches of regulation that were identified at the previous inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care. Further inspections will be planned for future dates.

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