Essex Cares South West Also known as Essex Cares Limited

Updated 26 February 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

Two inspectors and one expert by experience completed the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Essex Cares West is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and rehabilitative support to promote independence to people in their own homes.

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 visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Inspection site visit activity started and ended on 13 December 2018. This included visiting the office location to speak with the management team, interview staff and review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications which include information the provider is required to send us by law. We also looked at the Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR gives us information about what the service does well and any planned improvements.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, quality lead, quality director and regional manager. We also spoke with two members of the care staff team. We spoke with seven people who used the service and three relatives. We looked at six people’s care records including their medication records and daily notes. We looked at two staff member’s recruitment records. We reviewed training and supervision records and documents relating to the management of the service including complaints and compliments, satisfaction surveys, minutes of meetings and quality audits. We also looked at a recent external audit completed by the local authority’s quality improvement team, which had rated the service as ‘excellent’.

Updated 26 February 2019

About the service: Essex Cares South West is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. Some people received long term care and support however the majority of people benefitted from short term care packages of up to six weeks aimed at promoting independence and reducing the need for long term care. At the time of inspection, the service had just taken on a new contract with the local authority, resulting in the transition of people and staff from another service. This meant the numbers of people and staff at the service had significantly increased with the number of people using the service doubling from 35 to 70.

People’s experience of using this service:

The service benefited from outstanding leadership. The management team demonstrated a commitment to continuous learning and development to drive improvements and deliver an excellent service. Lessons had been learned from past failings and robust systems and processes were in place to ensure the quality and safety of the service. The provider recognised that the retention of staff had a positive impact on the quality of care people received so had introduced various incentive schemes to recognise good practice and show staff they were valued. Consequently, people received support from a well trained staff team who were motivated and committed to providing good quality care.

Staff shared the same vision and positive values, were kind and caring and regularly went the extra mile. People were spoken to courteously and treated with dignity and respect. People were included in decisions around their care and support and received regular reviews of their support package.

The provider was committed to protecting people from harm and abuse with excellent safeguarding mechanisms in place. Risks to people had been identified and staff had a good knowledge of how to keep people safe from avoidable harm. People were supported to take their medicines in a safe way by staff who had been trained and assessed as competent.

Support was planned and delivered in a structured way to ensure people's safety and welfare needs were met. Staff had access to up to date information about how to support people safely and effectively and to promote their independence.

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.

We made a recommendation about mental capacity assessments.

The service demonstrated a positive and open approach to concerns and complaints which were taken very seriously and thoroughly investigated. The service was committed to ensuring people were happy with the service they received.

There was a high level of engagement by the provider with people, commissioners and staff. Feedback from people and staff was regularly sought and used to drive improvements in safety and quality.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 27 May 2016)

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The overall rating is Good.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.