Eldercare UK LTD

Updated 2 August 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 04 July 2017 and was announced.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is domiciliary care service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

We visited the office location on 04 July to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an assistant inspector.

Before our inspection visit we reviewed the information we held on the service. This included notifications we had received from the provider about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people who used the service. We also reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR) we received prior to our inspection. This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This provided us with information and numerical data about the operation of the service.

During the inspection we spoke with nine people who used the service or their main carers over the telephone. We received feedback from two staff via email and spoke to two staff on the phone. We spoke with the care service manager. After the inspection we spoke to the nominated individual who is also the registered manager for the service.

We looked at care records of five people who used the service, training records, three recruitment records of staff members and records relating to the management of the service. We also contacted the safeguarding department at the local authority.

Updated 2 August 2018

The inspection visit took place on 05 July and was announced. This inspection was the first inspection since the service was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 20 July 2017. The service was previously registered at a different address where we inspected on 4 February 2016. At that time we found the service to be compliant with regulations and rated it overall 'good'.

Eldercare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats in the community and specialist housing. It provides a service to older adults, younger disabled adults, and children. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements.

Not everyone using Eldercare receives 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 provide any wider social care we also take this into account. CQC does not regulate premises used for people supported in their own homes; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support. At the time of the visit there were 31 people who used the service.

The service had a registered manager however they were not present at the time of the inspection visit. 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 service is run.

There were policies and procedures on how the service protected people against bullying, harassment, avoidable harm and abuse. Care staff had received training in safeguarding adults and knew how to report concerns. Staff had sought advice from other health and social care professionals where necessary. There were risk assessments which had been undertaken. Plans to minimise or remove risks had been drawn up and reviewed in line with the organisation’s policy. These were robust and covered specific risks around people’s care and specific activities they undertook in a person-centred manner.

We received significantly positive comments from people about the caring nature of the staff team.

There was a medicines policy in place and staff had been trained to safely support people with their medicines.

The service had recruitment policies and procedures in place to help ensure safety in the recruitment of staff. These had been followed to ensure staff were recruited safely for the protection and wellbeing of people who used the service. Records we saw and conversations with staff showed the service had adequate care staff to ensure that people's needs were sufficiently met. Staff had visited people at agreed times.

Staff skills knowledge, training and support demonstrated a commitment to providing a good quality of care.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. However; knowledge and application of the mental capacity principles required further improvements. The care manager informed us people's consent was sought. However, care records did not demonstrate how mental capacity had been considered. We have made a recommendation about staff knowledge and understanding on the subject of mental capacity and best interests’ decisions.

Care plans were in place detailing how people wished to be supported.

We found people had been assisted to have access to healthcare professionals and their healthcare needs were met.

People who used the service and their relatives knew how to raise a concern or to make a complaint. The complaints procedure was available and people said they were encouraged to raise concerns.

The registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of service provided to people. These included regular internal audits of the service, surveys and staff and review meetings to seek the views of people about the quality of care being provided.