Background to this inspection
Updated
11 January 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 team consisted of 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. Their area of expertise was with older people.
Service and service type
Right at Home Bournemouth and Poole is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 visit. We needed to be sure that people were informed that we would be contacting them by telephone, and we needed a manager to be available to facilitate this inspection.
Inspection activity started on 8 October 2019 and ended on 21 October 2019. We visited the office location on 8 and 17 October 2019.
What we did before the inspection
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, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to help us plan the inspection.
During the inspection
During the inspection we spoke with four people and 11 relatives or friends. We also spoke with the registered manager and seven staff.
We reviewed a range of records including four care plans and medicines records, two staff files, staff rotas and training records and other information about the management of the service. This included quality assurance records and audits, medicines records and maintenance of equipment.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. This including seeking staff opinions via email and contacting health professionals to ask for their view of the service. We received feedback from 21 staff and four health professionals.
We also analysed all the information we had gathered during the inspection and additional information sent to us by the registered manager.
Updated
11 January 2020
About the service
Right at Home Bournemouth and Poole is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. 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. At the time of this inspection 85 people were receiving approximately 1000 hours of care and support from the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
At this inspection we found overwhelming evidence that demonstrated people received outstandingly caring and responsive support. This was due to excellent leadership from the registered provider and registered manager as well as a strong, well trained team of staff.
Everyone we spoke with provided exceptional feedback about how caring and supportive the staff were and so often went the extra mile to ensure people were happy and felt well cared for. They told us about the positive impact the service had on their lives such as enabling them to stay in their own homes, improving their mood or increasing their independence.
The registered provider stated that, “Our guiding principles are to provide care and support with compassion, competence and commitment through kindness and consistency. Above all, we are passionate about people.” This was embedded in the culture of the service and reflected in all areas of the service. This was especially evident from feedback from staff and people who used the service.
The registered provider and registered manager continually reviewed the service and sought ways to improve the service to benefit both the people receiving the service and staff. They had built strong relationships with relevant professionals and within the local community to promote learning and meeting people’s needs.
People received personalised care which was responsive to their individual needs. Staff had an excellent understanding of the care and support people needed and provided this with great kindness and empathy.
People told us they felt listened to and consulted when planning and agreeing what care and support they needed.
Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in identifying and reporting any concerns of potential abuse or poor practice.
Risks to people were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm including the prevention of avoidable infection.
Staff supported people to take medicines safely. Staff were trained in medicines management and knew how to ensure that people received their medicines on time and as they had been prescribed.
There were sufficient numbers of trained, experienced staff to meet people’s needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed, and appropriate checks completed to ensure that only suitable staff were employed.
Staff received induction and on-going training and support that enabled them to carry out their roles positively and effectively.
People had access to healthcare services and were involved in decisions about their care and wellbeing. Partnerships with other agencies and health professionals enabled effective outcomes for people.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People and where appropriate their relatives were involved in decisions about their care.
People, relatives and professionals told us they could confidently raise any concerns, and these were addressed appropriately.
Governance systems and oversight of the service were robust. Issues were identified, and actions taken to address any shortfalls.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 4 April 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.