Sevacare - Wednesbury

Updated 12 June 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.

This inspection site visit took place on 23 April 2018. The inspection was unannounced. The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Before our inspection visit we reviewed the information we held about the service. We looked at statutory notifications the provider had sent to us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law. We looked at complaint information members of the public had shared with us. These included concerns about late or missed care calls to people in their own homes. During the planning and conducting of this inspection we took into consideration the concerns we had received, together with the information we received from the provider and management team regarding complaints.

We requested feedback from three local authority commissioners. commissioners are people who work to find appropriate care and support services for people and fund the care provided. The commissioners from two local authorities shared information with us and their feedback was considered when planning our inspection of the service.

We reviewed information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We visited the office location on 23 April 2018 to interview staff and review records. During our office visit we spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, two team leaders and two care staff. In addition, following our office visit we conducted telephone interviews with a further four care staff; in total we spoke with ten staff.

We looked at five people's care records to include medicine records and daily logs. We viewed complaint records, safeguarding records, and records relating to the management and audit of the service. This included the provider's survey results from people who used the service, on-call communication records, training records, the provider's Care Awards Scheme, audits of care records, accident and incident records, recruitment processes and infection control guidance. We also looked at the provider's own quality audit report.

We conducted telephone interviews on 24 and 25th April 2018 to 15 people; eight people who used the service and seven family members shared their views of the service they received.

Updated 12 June 2018

The inspection took place on 23 April 2018 and was unannounced. The service was previously registered at a different location. We last inspected Sevacare-Wednesbury in April 2016 and gave the service an overall rating of Good. This is the first inspection of the service under the new location address but with the same

provider.

Sevacare- Wednesbury 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 younger and older adults who may have a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, sensory disability, dementia or mental health needs. On the day of the inspection 200 people were receiving support; this included people who were being supported with a short enablement program following discharge from hospital.

Sevacare-Wednesbury is required to and had a registered manager in post. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was present for this inspection. She was also registered to manage another service within the provider group and divided her time between the two locations.

People were supported by staff who knew how to keep them safe from harm or abuse. Potential risks to people's safety were managed but records needed more detail. People were supported to take their medicines safely. People told us they had their care calls on time but we found some people had experienced late calls. The registered manager was monitoring call times to ensure people had support when they needed it. The provider carried out checks on staff to ensure they were suitable to work with people in their own homes.

Staff had training and support to develop the skills needed to care for people effectively. People told us they were supported to eat and drink and that staff were mindful of making sure they could access food and drink between visits. People were supported to access health professionals when they needed. Staff supported people to have maximum choice and control of their lives in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

People were consistently complimentary about the caring approach of staff describing them as kind, helpful and respectful. People said their dignity and privacy was protected when receiving care. People were encouraged to express their views about the care they received and felt that they were listened to.

People told us they were involved in decisions about their care and that staff respected these when assisting them. There was a system in place to investigate and respond to people's complaints.

People spoke very positively about the management style being open and friendly with good communication. The registered manager had oversight of the service and was carrying out regular checks to ensure people experienced good outcomes. Quality assurance audits needed some minor improvement to ensure the provider was looking at all aspects of the service. There were links with other agencies to gain advice and share best practices to improve the quality of care to people. People's views on the service were sought and we saw their feedback was positive.