Updated 20 August 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 was carried out by one inspector and an 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 care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats or specialist housing.
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 registered manager 4 days notice of the inspection visit to ensure the registered manager and senior staff were available to speak to us. Inspection activity started on 2 July 2019 and ended on 12 July 2019. We visited the office location on 9 July and 12 July 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse, serious injury or when a person dies.
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, 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 two people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff including the nominated individual, registered manager and a clinical lead. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We reviewed a range of records. This included care plans and associated records for seven people, three staff recruitment files, the provider’s business continuity plan, staff rotas, the staff training matrix, staff supervision records, records of staff meetings, quality assurance documents and audits and three people’s medicines administration record.
After the inspection we reviewed further information we requested from the registered manager including two people’s medicines administration records, risk assessments and end of life care plans for two people. We spoke with two members of care staff and one registered nurse. We contacted a further two members of care staff but received no responses from them. One member of staff was not able to speak to us. We also contacted six health care professionals. We received responses from two health care professionals.