Willowcare (Suffolk) Ltd

Updated 13 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: Consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type: Willowcare (Suffolk) Limited 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 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 visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in. We visited the office location on 30 April 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We then telephoned and spoke with people that used the service and staff that worked at the service on 1 May 2019 once they had been given notice.

What we did:

We used information to plan the inspection that the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders, for example, the local authority and members of the public.

We telephoned and spoke with four people/relatives to seek their views of the service. We spoke to three care staff during our visit as well as the registered manager of the service.

We reviewed three people’s care records, policies and procedures, records relating to the management of the service, training records and the recruitment records of care workers.

Updated 13 June 2019

About the service: Willowcare (Suffolk) Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults. Currently there are three teams of care staff that cover care support to approximately 34 people in Brandon, Lakenheath and Mildenhall and the surrounding villages.

People’s experience of using this service:

People using the service were happy and well cared for. They were cared for in a way which reflected their preferences and met their needs. They liked the care staff and told us they were polite, caring and kind. The care staff arrived on time and stayed for the right length of time for each visit. People received their medicines in a safe way. They were involved in planning their care and making choices about this.

People were supported to have 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.

The staff were well supported and enjoyed working for the agency. They had access to a range of suitable training and had the skills they needed to care for people. The provider's recruitment procedures made sure only suitable staff were employed. They regularly met with their manager and discussed their work and any queries they had. The registered manager assessed the staff in the work place to make sure they were following procedures and delivering effective care.

There were procedures designed to safeguard people from abuse, and the staff were familiar with these. The staff knew to record any accidents, incidents or complaints and these were investigated and responded to. The staff were provided with protective clothing, such as gloves and aprons.

There were systems in place for monitoring the quality of the service and making improvements. The registered manager liaised with people using the service, relatives and staff to ask for their feedback and ideas. There were a range of suitable policies and procedures which the people using the service and staff had access to.

Rating at last inspection: This is the first ratings inspection since the service registered on 24 May 2018.

Why we inspected: We inspected this service because it was the annual anniversary since registration and required a rating to be published.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated good or sooner if needed.

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