Carers Forward Head office

Updated 26 March 2019

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.

Service and service type: This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to children and younger adults.

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: We gave the service 72 hours' notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the manager would be in the office.

Inspection activity started on 8 March 2019 with a visit to the office location. We made telephone calls to staff and relatives on 17 March 2019.

What we did: Before the inspection the provider sent us a Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We reviewed information we held about the service, for example, statutory notifications. A notification is information about events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.

We contacted commissioners to seek their feedback. During the site visit we spoke with the registered manager and director. We reviewed a range of records. These included four people’s care records. We also looked at five staff files to check staff recruitment and their training records. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

After the site visit we contacted four relatives of people who used the service and three support workers.

Updated 26 March 2019

About the service: Carers Forward Head Office, is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to children and young adults with physical and or learning disabilities in their own home. At the time of inspection 18 people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service: People’s relatives told us people were safe and well-supported. There were sufficient staff hours available to meet people’s needs in a safe and consistent way, and staff roles were flexible to allow this.

Risk assessments were in place and they accurately identified current risks to the person as well as ways for staff to minimise or appropriately manage those risks. Care plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported. People were supported to access health care professionals when required. They were supported to eat and drink according to their plan of care.

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 systems in the service supported this practice. People and their relatives were offered choice and staff encouraged them to be involved in decision making whatever the level of support required. Information was accessible to involve people in decision making about their lives.

Staff had a good understanding and knowledge of people’s care and support needs. They received the training they needed and regular supervision and support. Staff were kind, caring and supportive of people and their families.

People’s rights to privacy and dignity were respected. There was a very good standard of record keeping to ensure people’s needs were met.

Effective communication ensured the necessary information was passed between staff to make sure people received appropriate care. Systems were in place for people to receive their medicines in a safe way.

Processes were in place to manage and respond to complaints and concerns. There were opportunities for people, relatives and staff to give their views about the service. The provider undertook a range of audits to check on the quality of care provided.

Why we inspected: This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered in December 2016. This was a planned comprehensive inspection.

Follow up: We did not identify any concerns at this inspection. We will therefore re-inspect this service within the published timeframe for services rated good. We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.

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