Archived: Angel Home Care

Updated 13 November 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team:

This 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:

Angel Home Care is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their homes in the community.

The service did not currently have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The provider was in the process of recruiting to the post of manager, who, they would expect, to register with the CQC. The provider, and any registered managers, are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the location was a small agency and staff were often out of the office during the day. We needed to be sure they would be in at the time of our visit.

What we did:

Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). 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. The provider returned the PIR and we took this into account when we made judgements in this report. We reviewed other information that we held about the service such as notifications. These are events that happen in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. We also considered information that had been sent to us by other agencies such as the local authority’s quality and improvement team (QAIT). Also the action plan sent to us following the previous inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with five staff and the provider. Following the office visit we visited four people and a relative in their own home with their consent and spoke with a further 12 people on the telephone. Overall, comments were very positive about the care they received. Following the inspection, we received positive comments from seven care workers.

We looked at the care and medication records of four people who used the service. We also examined records in relation to the management of the service such as staff recruitment files, quality assurance checks, complaints, staff training and supervision records, safeguarding information and accidents and incident information.

Updated 13 November 2019

About the service

Angel Home Care is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. When we inspected they were providing the regulated activity, personal care, to 59 people in Bovey Tracey and surrounding rural areas in Devon. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

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 were supported by staff that were caring, compassionate and treated them with dignity and respect. Any concerns or worries were responded to and used as an opportunity to improve the service. Overall what people liked specifically about the service was the professionalism. People described the service as, “Courteous”, “Wonderful”, [Care workers] have time for a chat” and one person said staff always asked, “Is there anything else I can do before I go?”.

People received person-centred care and support based on their individual needs and preferences. Staff were aware of people's life history, and their communication needs. They used this information to develop positive, meaningful relationships with people. One person said they loved seeing the care workers and showing them photos of their family.

People told us they felt well cared for by staff who encouraged them to maintain relationships and keep their independence for as long as possible.

The provider ensured, as much as possible, people had consistent staff visiting them.

People were supported by staff who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. Staff understood and felt confident in their role. One care worker said they had good training, especially in topics related to individuals such as advanced epilepsy. Staff liaised with other health care professionals to ensure people's safety and meet their health needs.

Staff spoke positively about working for the provider. One care worker said there was good, supportive, approachable management. They felt supported and could talk to management at any time, feeling confident any concerns would be acted on promptly. They felt happy in their work.

Audits and an overarching service improvement plan (SIP) had been completed to check the quality and safety of the service. The provider was very passionate about providing good care and they and the staff team had worked closely with the local council quality and improvement team to ensure they were embedding effective systems. The staff team worked well together with the provider in their roles and ensure people received a good service.

Rating at the last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement overall with Well-Led rated as Inadequate (last report published 20 May 2019). We issued two warning notices in relation to breaches of good governance and safe care and treatment regulations.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when they expected to have improved and were meeting the regulations.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

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.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk