Caremark (Rotherham)

Updated 31 October 2020

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one 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.

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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 6 October 2020 and ended on 23 October 2020. We visited the office location on 8 October 2020 and made telephone calls to people using the service, their relatives and staff after this visit.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection-

We spoke with the registered manager, nominated individual and members of the management team. We spoke with four people using the service or their relatives, and eight staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits, policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 31 October 2020

About the service

Caremark (Rotherham) is a domiciliary care agency providing support for people in their own homes. The service was supporting 21 people at the time of the inspection. The majority of the people being supported were under 18

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

Everyone we spoke with was very positive about the care and support they received. They said they felt safe with the care staff and felt staff were appropriately trained to provide support. One relative described how staff had recently received training to meet their relative’s specific needs.

One person’s relative told us how the provider had ensured their provision changed to meet the person’s changing support needs, and one person using the service described their experience as “great.”

The registered manager and care staff were approachable, and people felt able to raise any concerns directly with them. Staff said they felt well supported and received the training they needed for their role. Staff were safely recruited. One staff member described the provider as “on the ball, any problems or changes and they sort it out.” Another described how the provider had supported them around difficult personal circumstances. All the staff we asked said they would recommend Caremark (Rotherham) as an employer.

Care plans and risk assessments were in place to identify the support people wanted. People and their relatives were involved in agreeing and reviewing their care plans.

Staff received an in depth induction and regular, ongoing training to enable them to undertake their roles. Staff told us they found the training to be useful and informative. One staff member said: “You get all the training you want, anything you ask they provide it.”

The registered manager and wider management team had oversight of the service through regular contact with people, their families and staff to gain feedback on the service. Care plans were reviewed regularly to ensure they met people’s needs, and spot checks were formally recorded with staff. Daily records were reviewed by the management team.

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 Requires Improvement (published July 2019.)

Why we inspected

This was a planned focussed inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. As this was a focussed inspection, we reviewed the key questions of safe, responsive and well led only.

Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.