Archived: Thurrock Care At Home

Updated 28 December 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection team was made up of three inspectors and two Experts 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. The experts for this inspection had personal experience of using domiciliary care services.

Service and service type

Thurrock Care at Home is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living 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. The registered manager helped the planning of the inspection but was on annual leave on the day of the office visit.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave a short period notice of the inspection because we wanted to send letters to people about the inspection telling them that we may be calling them to hear their views.

Inspection activity started on 12 November 2019 and ended on 25 November 2019. We visited the office location on 20 November 2019 and visited people in their own homes on 21 November 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the team manager, deputy manager, medication officer, business support manager, a scheduler and six members of care staff. We contacted and spoke with 22 people and 17 relatives by telephone to ask for their feedback and visited three people in their own homes. We looked at 12 people’s care records including their medicine records and daily notes. We looked at four staff files. We reviewed training and supervision records and documents relating to the management of the service including complaints and compliments, minutes of meetings and quality audits. We also contacted professionals that had experience of the service and received two responses.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This included end of life care correspondence, confirmation of risk assessments completed and recruitment information.

Updated 28 December 2019

About the service

Thurrock Care at Home is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection 108 people were using the service.

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

People were very positive about the quality of the care and management of the service. People received a safe service as staff were knowledgeable about safeguarding procedures. Risks to people's safety were assessed, recorded and appropriate action was taken to keep people safe.

There were enough staff deployed to meet people's needs. The correct recruitment procedures were followed to ensure staff were suitably employed to work with people in their own homes.

People’s medicines were administered and managed safely by trained and competent staff, and people received them as prescribed. Correct infection control procedures were followed. Lessons were learnt, and the service had been improved when things had gone wrong.

The service assessed people’s needs and worked in line with current good practice. Staff were trained and supported to ensure they delivered effective care and support to people. People received consistent and timely care which met their needs and circumstances. Where support was provided with food and drink, people had choice over their meals.

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.

People told us they felt very cared for by staff who were caring, kind and considerate. Staff understood the importance of involving people in their care and promoting their independence. They enabled people to live in their own homes with confidence. People received an individualised service and their privacy and dignity was respected. Staff had developed positive relationships with people and their families.

People's care plans were personalised and contained all relevant information to respond to their needs. Reviews of people’s care were undertaken to ensure they were up to date. People knew how to make a complaint about the service. People received thoughtful and respectful end of life care.

The service was managed and led by an efficient and robust management team. Staff were valued and respected and clear about their roles and responsibilities. A quality assurance process was in place which ensured oversight of all aspects of the service. The service worked well with other professionals to ensure people received personalised and high quality care.

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 Requires improvement (published 24 September 2018) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.