Archived: Notaro Homecare Limited

Updated 22 May 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 carried out by one adult social care inspector, and 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. The expert by experience’s area of expertise was older people.

Service and service type: Notaro Home Care is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager however they were not, at the time of the inspection, registered with the Care Quality Commission. They confirmed they planned to be registered manager and be legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection: The inspection was announced.

We gave the service 5 days’ notice of the inspection site visit so that consent could be gained for phone calls and home visits.

Inspection site visit activity started on 20 March 2019. We visited the office location on 20 & 21 March to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection in April 2018. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. Prior to this inspection we did not request a Provider Information Return (PIR). Following the inspection, we sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We gained views from two of these.

During the inspection we made calls to 10 people receiving the service and we visited three people. We spoke with five carers, four office staff and the manager. After the inspection we contacted five relatives and gained views from one. We reviewed six people’s care and support records and four staff files. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service such as incident and accident records, meeting minutes, recruitment and training records, policies, audits and complaints.

Updated 22 May 2019

About the service: Notaro home care provides personal care to around 250 people. It provides personal care support to people with a range of physical and mental health care needs.

People’s experience of using this service: People were supported by staff who they felt were kind and caring.

Feedback was sought by the local authority contracts team however the provider had no system in place to monitor feedback from people, relatives and staff.

Staff had good relationships with regular carers who knew them well, although people, relatives and professionals all felt some improvements could be made to receiving regular staff who knew them well.

People’s care plans had risk assessments in place.

Recruitment procedures were completed before new staff began work.

Supervision, appraisals and enabling staff to undertake the care certificate required improving.

Records relating to the recording of medicines administered, cream charts and body maps and having records available to staff required improving.

The service provided a reablement service so that people could receive support to regain their independence following a fall, being unwell or a hospital admission.

People were supported by staff who demonstrated dignity and respect, however improvements could be made to not sharing personal information with other people using the service.

Care plans were personalised and contained important information relating to people’s likes and dislikes. One person required their care plan updating with their change in visit information.

Some actions had been identified through audits and an action plan was in place.

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (April 2018)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Enforcement: We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and we made two recommendations around handling and acting upon complaints and care planning that reflects people’s end of life wishes. Please see the ‘action we have told the provider to take’ section towards the end of the report.

Follow up: We will review the report on actions the provider intends to take following the inspection. We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will inspect in line with our inspection programme or sooner if required.