Berkeley Home Health - Somerset and Wiltshire

Berkeley Home Health - Somerset and Wiltshire is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 19 people using the service.

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.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received safe and consistent care. Staff were supported well by managers and an out of hours on call system.

There were sufficient staff to meet people's individual needs. People told us staff usually turned up on time and stayed for the full duration of the visit. Staffing was planned flexibly to meet people's individual needs. Staff were recruited safely.

People’s medicines were managed safely. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated. Lessons were learned and improvements were made when things went wrong.

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.

There were systems to engage people, their relatives, and staff in the service. Staff support, teamwork and staff morale was good. Staff were positive about their work and clear about the aims of the service. There were a range of quality monitoring systems in place.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 01 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This was the first inspection of Berkeley Home Health. They were previously registered under a different provider. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older and younger adults. At the time of this inspection the service was providing support to 41 people. They were providing on average of 430 hours of care each week. Not everyone using the service received a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

There was 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 legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the home is run.

Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and knew what to do if they were concerned about the welfare of people or an allegation of abuse had been made. People had risk assessments to keep them safe whilst receiving personal care. This included environmental risk assessments. People told us they felt safe whilst being supported by staff. Staff were recruited in a safe and consistent manner. Medicines were managed safely with people receiving their medicines appropriately. Regular medicine audits were being carried out.

There was sufficient staff to meet people’s individual needs. People told us staff turned up on time and stayed for the full duration of the visit. Staffing was planned flexibly to meet people’s individual needs.

People had access to a range of health professionals when required. Some people looked after their own health care appointments. People’s nutritional needs were being met. People were involved in decisions about the care and support they received. Staff were knowledgeable about the people they supported and committed to providing care which was tailored to the person. People were treated with kindness and compassion.

People had their needs assessed and clear plans of care were in place about how the person wanted to be supported. These were personalised and up to date. People were very much involved in their care. There was an emphasis on encouraging people to be independent as possible enabling them to live independently in their own homes. People felt confident that their care needs would be met and gave very positive feedback about the staff who supported them. It was evident the service was very responsive to people’s changing needs and adjustments were made to their care and support to enable them to continue to live the life they wanted.

Staff were consistently caring and supportive and demonstrated a good understanding of their roles in supporting people. Staff received training and support that was relevant to their roles and the people they supported. Staff were passionate about delivering care that was tailored to the person.

People were provided with a safe, effective, caring and very responsive service that was well led. The registered provider was aware of the importance of reviewing the quality of the service.