Archived: Specialist Home Care Service for Older People North and South

Updated 19 June 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. 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 two inspectors.

Service and service type:

Specialist Home Care Service for Older People North and South is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and provides a service to a range of adults. Not everyone using the service received the regulated activity 'personal care'. The Care Quality Commission (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 we also consider any wider social care provided.

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 because the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service, including information within the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at other information received from the provider, such as statutory notifications about incidents and events the provider must notify us about. We also sought feedback from other professionals who work with the service.

We took the information into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During our inspection we spoke with nine people using the service and three relatives. We also had discussions with eight members of staff including the acting manager, a team leader, a supervisor and four care staff and the operations manager for the provider. We also spoke with the providers’ short term reablement team. We checked the care records for three people using the service, and examined other records relating to the management of the service. These included four staff recruitment files, staff training and supervision records, policies and procedures and quality monitoring information.

Updated 19 June 2019

About the service: Specialist Home Care Service for Older People North and South is an assessment and reablement team and a domiciliary care agency. They provide care for people who need immediate short-term support to regain independence or, identify people require a permanent care provider to meet their longer-term care needs.

At the time of inspection were providing care for a total of 61 people:

- Forty people were receiving short term reablement care in their own homes

- Eight people were receiving domiciliary care in supported living accommodation

- Three people were receiving reablement care in step down beds provided by the local commissioners for people who require reablement following discharge from hospital

- Ten people living with dementia received long term care, however, this part of the service was being discontinued and people were being found new care providers.

People’s experience of using this service:

Staff understood their roles and responsibilities to safeguard people from the risk of harm.

People received their care within planned timescales from skilled staff.

People’s medicines were managed in a safe way.

Staff recruitment procedures were followed.

Staff received training and support to carry out their roles.

People were assessed for their safety to mobilise and for equipment to aid daily living.

People were supported to become more independent.

People were supported to access relevant health and social care professionals.

Staff demonstrated their understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 (MCA).

Staff gained people's consent before providing personal care.

Staff had a good understanding of people's needs, choices and preferences.

People were encouraged to make decisions about how their care was provided and their privacy and dignity were protected and promoted.

People were involved in the planning of their care which was person centred and updated regularly.

People were supported to express themselves, their views were acknowledged and acted upon.

There was a complaints system in place and people were confident that any complaints would be responded to appropriately.

The management team continually monitored the quality of the service, identifying issues and making changes to improve the care.

The registered manager had not managed the service since December 2018. An acting manager had been appointed who understood the provider’s culture. The acting manager was respected by staff and had continued to improve the service.

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection for this service since their registration on 19 April 2018 with the Care Quality Commission.

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on date of registration

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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