Fosse Healthcare - Newark

Updated 1 December 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was 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.

The inspection was announced. The provider was given notice of our inspection visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service. We did this because the registered manager is sometimes out of the office supporting staff or visiting people who use the service. We needed to be sure that they would be available to contribute to the inspection.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and one 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 service. On 10 and 11 October our expert by experience telephoned people who used the service to seek their views about how well the service was meeting their needs. Our inspectors visited the administration office of the service on 11 October 2018.

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) and we took this into account when we made the judgements in this report. The PIR 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. We also reviewed other information that we held about the service such as notifications (events which happened in the service that the provider is required to tell us about) and information shared by other organisations, including the local authority contracting and safeguarding teams.

During our inspection we spoke with 10 people who used the service, two relatives, the registered manager, two care workers and three of the provider’s senior managers. We looked at a range of documents and written records including people’s care plans, staff recruitment files and information relating to the administration of medicines and the auditing and monitoring of service provision.

Updated 1 December 2018

Fosse Healthcare - Newark is a domiciliary care agency. It is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes in the community, including older people and people with physical disabilities. The service was registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in June 2017. This was our first inspection.

We conducted our inspection on 10 and 11 October 2018. The inspection was announced. Shortly before our inspection, the provider had won a new contract from the local authority which had resulted in significant numbers of new clients and staff transferring to the service from another domiciliary care provider. At the time of our inspection 125 people were receiving a personal care service.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers (the ‘provider’) 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 service is run.

Staff had established warm, friendly relationships with people and went out of their way to help them in any way they could. Staff worked together in a supportive way and participated in a varied programme of training appropriate to their needs. They were proud to work for the provider and felt listened to by the registered manager and other senior staff. The registered manager had an open and reflective leadership style which set the cultural tone for the service

People were involved in agreeing the type and amount of care they received and their needs and wishes were understood and followed by staff. In general, people were satisfied with the provider’s staffing arrangements although the recent expansion of the service had caused disruption to call timings and staffing continuity for some people. The provider was aware of these issues and action was in hand to address them.

Staff treated people with dignity and respect and encouraged them to maintain their independence. Staff had the knowledge and skills required to meet people’s individual needs effectively and supported them to prepare food and drink of their choice.

People received any support they required to take their medicines and staff worked closely with local healthcare services to ensure people had access to specialist support when needed. The provider assessed any potential risks to people’s safety and welfare and put preventive measures in place where required. Staff knew how to recognise and report any concerns to keep people safe from harm.

The provider sought people’s opinions through regular customer surveys and people were generally satisfied that any complaints were handled effectively.

The provider was committed to the continuous improvement of the service and maintained a range of systems to monitor service quality. Action was required to ensure CQC was always notified of any significant incidents or events.

CQC is required by law to monitor how a provider applies the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and to report on what we find. Staff understood the principles of the MCA and how to support, in the least restrictive way possible, people who lacked capacity to make some decisions for themselves.