Updated 26 February 2020
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide 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 (ExE). 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. At the time of the inspection there were 22 people receiving a regulated service.
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 service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to get people’s contact details and plan calls to them, with their consent.
Inspection activity took place on 09 and 11 December 2019. The ExE made telephone calls to people and relatives to gain feedback about the service on 09 December and inspection activity concluded on 11 December. We visited the office location to see the registered manager, office staff and carers visiting the office. We also reviewed care records, policies and procedures and quality assurance records.
What we did
We used the information we held about the service to plan our inspection. This included notifications about events that had happened at the service, which the provider was required to send us by law. For example, serious injuries and safeguarding incidents that had occurred at the service.
We spoke with seven relatives to gain their experiences of the service provided to their family members. We spoke with three carers, the service manager and the registered manager.
We viewed four people’s care records to confirm what relatives and staff had told us. We also looked at various documentation in regard to staff training, recruitment and records kept by the registered manager that showed how the quality of the service was monitored.