Background to this inspection
Updated
6 July 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 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.
Inspection team Our inspection was completed 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 24 hours’ notice because the service 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. The inspection site visit was on 13 May 2019. We visited the office location on 13 May 2019 to see the manager and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did before the inspection Before the inspection, we looked at the evidence we already held about the service including notifications the provider had sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.
We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. 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 to the registered manager and reviewed a range of records. This included two care records for people using the service, including risk assessments. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service including staff training, medicine management and quality assurance were reviewed.
After the inspection
We contacted the local authority with responsibility for commissioning care from the service to seek their views about the service. We spoke with one person who used the service, one relative and two care staff. The provider sent us documentation we requested.
Updated
6 July 2019
About the service: Global North is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people aged 65 and over. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of this inspection, six people were receiving a personal care service.
People’s experience of using this service: People were protected from avoidable harm and staff knew about safeguarding and whistleblowing procedures. The provider used incidents to learn lessons. Staff were recruited safely and were given sufficient travelling time between visits. The provider had a system in place to check that staff arrived at the visits on time and spent the required amount of time with people.
Staff were supported in their role with training and supervision. People’s care needs were assessed before they began to use the service. Staff supported people with their nutritional needs. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The service involved people, relatives and their representatives in decisions about the care. Staff knew people’s care needs and how to provide a fair and equal service. People’s privacy, dignity and independence were promoted.
People’s care plans contained their choices and preferences. The provider assessed their communication needs to ensure these could be met. People and relatives knew how to make complaints and were satisfied with the way the provider handled these.
We have made one recommendation about end of life care planning.
People and relatives spoke positively about the leadership in the service. The provider had a system in place to obtain feedback from people about the service provided. The provider carried out quality checks of the service to identify areas for improvement. Staff attended regular meetings to be updated on service development.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: This service was registered with us in November 2017 and this was the first inspection.
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on our inspection programme.
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.