Dravens Healthcare

Updated 30 October 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.

The inspection was announced and took place on 20 September 2018.The service was given two working days’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service. We needed to be sure that the appropriate staff would be available in the office to assist with the inspection. The inspection was completed by one inspector.

We looked at all the information we have collected about the service. This included the previous inspection report and notifications the registered manager had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law.

We looked at paperwork for six people who use the service. This included support plans, daily notes and other documentation, such as medication records. In addition, we looked at records related to the running of the service. These included a sample of health and safety, quality assurance, staff recruitment and training records.

We spoke with the registered manager and three staff members on the day of the visit. After the inspection we spoke with six people who use the service and received written comments from four staff members and the local safeguarding team. We did not receive responses from five other professionals we contacted.

Updated 30 October 2018

This was an announced inspection which took place on 20 September 2018.

Dravens Healthcare is a is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It currently, provides a regulated activity to 30 people with various needs.

At the last inspection, on 03 and 04 July 2017, the service was based in the West Midlands and rated as requires improvement in all five domains. This meant that the service was rated as overall 'Requires Improvement.' There were three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Following the last inspection, we asked the provider to complete an action plan to show what they would do and by when to make improvements to the areas we identified as requiring attention. It was intended that any improvements made should be to at least a Good rating.

We received a provider action plan in August 2017 to tell us how they would meet the relevant legal requirements. That is, how they would use safe recruitment procedures, how they would ensure staff were competent to carry out their role and how they would monitor the quality and safety of the services they provide.

They told us they would complete these actions by of the end of January 2018. We found that these actions had been completed.

At this inspection the service had moved and was based in Buckinghamshire; it had been dormant from October 2017 to January 2018. We found four domains had improved to Good. This meant that the overall rating had improved to Good.

Staff were safely recruited and all necessary checks were completed. People were protected from abuse. Staff understood their responsibilities and what action to take if they identified any concerns. The service identified health and safety, safe working practices and individual risks to people. However, written individual risk assessments were not always detailed. The service did not administer people’s medicines. However, they did prompt people to take them and their responsibilities with regard to people’s medicines was not always clear.

The staff team were inducted and trained to enable them to offer people effective care. They met people’s diverse needs including their current and changing health and emotional well-being needs. The service worked with health and other professionals to ensure they offered individuals appropriate 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.

The staff were kind and caring and promoted people’s privacy and dignity. The same staff provided support to people as much as possible which assisted people and staff to develop positive working relationships.

The service was person-centred and responsive to people’s diverse, individualised needs. Care planning was individualised and regularly reviewed which ensured people’s current needs were met and their equality and diversity was respected.

The registered manager (who was also the provider) was described as supportive and approachable by the staff team. They had been leading the team since 2017. The registered manager did not tolerate any form of discrimination relating to staff or people who use the service. The quality of care the service provided was assessed, reviewed and improved, as necessary.