Amore Home Care

Updated 12 November 2021

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 15 October 2021 and ended on 02 November 2021. We visited the office location on 21 October 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since registration. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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 plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with seven members of staff including the provider, registered manager and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 12 November 2021

About the service

Amore Home Care is a domiciliary care agency that provides support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to younger and older adults, people with physical disabilities, sensory impairments and dementia. The provider has one domiciliary care agency within their registration. The service's office is based in Eccles, and support is provided to people in surrounding areas. At the time of the inspection, it was providing a service to seven people.

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 protected from the risks of abuse and harm and people said they trusted staff to keep them safe. People's care needs were risk assessed and care plans provided staff with the information they needed to manage the identified risk. Medicines were managed safely. Staff had to undertake training before they could administer medicines and received regular competency checks to ensure they administered medicines safely. Staff received training in infection prevention and control and told us personal protective equipment (PPE) was readily available to them. Recruitment checks were robust to ensure staff were suitable to work with vulnerable adults. Safe staffing levels were in place and people received care visits from regular staff.

Systems were in place to monitor the standard of care for people and the effectiveness of the service. Policies and records had been updated in line with best practice and were regularly reviewed. Person-centred care was promoted, and people told us the staff knew them well and responded to their needs in a person-centred way. People and their relatives’ views had been sought through regular contact, surveys and quality monitoring. Staff felt valued and supported by the management team. The registered manager worked effectively in partnership with health and social care professionals to achieve better outcomes for people using the service.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 30 September 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 9 September 2019. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions safe and well-led, which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Amore Home Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.