Serenity Care - Support Ltd

Updated 20 September 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Our comprehensive inspection was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our inspection as we needed to be sure someone would be in the office to speak with us. Inspection activity began on 14 August 2018 when we called people who used the service, relatives and staff by telephone. We attended the office on 20 August 2018. The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an assistant inspector.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service, and notifications about incidents which the provider is required to send us. We also contacted other bodies such as the local authority, safeguarding teams and Police to ask if they held any information about the service. We did not receive any information of concern.

We sent a provider information return (PIR) before this inspection. This 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.

During the inspection we spoke with four people and four people’s relatives by telephone, and four members of staff. We visited the office and spoke with the registered manager, service manager and a volunteer. We looked at four people’s care records including medicines administration records and daily notes, three recruitment files and other documentation relating to the running of the service.

Updated 20 September 2018

The inspection took place on 14 and 20 August. Both days were announced to make sure someone would be available. This is the first inspection the service has received since registering in April 2017.

We completed a comprehensive inspection. 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 adults. At the time of inspection, the service was supporting 23 people with a personal care service.

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.

Staffs competency was assessed before they worked with people. Staff, people and their relatives told us they could speak to the registered manager if they had any concerns. The registered manager carried out formal supervisions and visual observations. We saw staff received an annual appraisal. We saw staff meetings were in place and attended well by staff.

The service sent out questionnaires to people, however the service was considering ways to receive this feedback more effectively from people and their relatives.

People told us they felt safe with the care and support they received from staff. Staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and how to follow these. Staff had completed an induction and wereallocated to support people in relation to their care and cultural needs. The registered manager told us normally three staff were allocated to one person for consistency.

Staff were sufficiently trained and knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities.

People told us they were supported to eat and drink healthy home cooked food. Staff supported them to healthcare appointments and provided personal care as required to meet people’s needs.

Medicines were managed, stored and administered safely.

There was a complaints procedure in place. People who used the service, their relatives and staff knew how to complain. There had been no complaints, however there were many compliments.

Accidents and incidents were recorded. There had only been two accidents which had been dealt with appropriately.

There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service. Staff said there were good leadership within the service which promoted an open culture.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.