Background to this inspection
Updated
3 September 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:
One inspector visited the service on the 14 August 2019 and an Expert by Experience made phone calls to people to seek their views about the service. 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 in older people.
Service and service type: Scodef Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides personal care to people with a range of conditions including physical disabilities.
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 the manager was often out of the office supporting staff. We needed to be sure that they would be in. We visited the office location to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
Inspection activity started on 14 August 2019 and ended on 21 August 2019. We visited the office location on 14 August 2019.
What we did:
Before the inspection: We looked at all the information we held about the service. This information included the statutory notifications that the service sent to the Care Quality Commission. A notification is information about important events that the service is required to send us by law. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection:
We spoke with the nominated individual/the registered manager. We looked at three people’s care records, and two staff records. We also looked at records related to the management of the service, such as the accidents and incidents, medicines management, safeguarding, and policies and procedures.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at medicines’ management and quality assurance records. We spoke with one field staff, two people using the service and two relatives.
Updated
3 September 2019
About the service: Scodef Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes and flats. At the time of the inspection three people were receiving personal care from the service.
People’s experience of using this service:
People and their relatives gave us positive feedback about their safety and told us that staff treated them well.
The provider had a policy and procedure for safeguarding adults and children from abuse. The registered manager and staff understood what abuse was, the types of abuse, and the signs to look for.
The registered manager completed risk assessments for every person who used the service. These included manual handling risks, eating and drinking and home environment.
There was a system to manage accidents and incidents to reduce them happening again.
People were supported by effectively deployed staff. Staff attended people’s care calls as agreed.
There were effective recruitment and selection procedures in place to ensure people were safe and supported by staff that were unsuitable.
Staff prompted people to take their prescribed medicine.
People were protected from the risk of infection.
People’s needs were assessed to ensure these could be met by the service. Where appropriate, staff involved relatives in this assessment. The provider trained staff to support people and meet their needs.
Staff supported people to eat and drink enough to meet their needs and staff supported people to maintain good health. The provider worked with other external professionals to ensure people received effective care.
People’s capacity to consent to their care and support was documented. People told us staff obtained consent from them before delivering care to them.
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.
Staff supported people and showed an understanding of equality and diversity and people were treated with dignity, and their privacy was respected.
People and their relatives were involved in the planning and review of their care and people were supported to be as independent in their care as possible.
Care plans were person centred and contained information about people’s personal life and social history, their health and social care needs.
The provider had a clear policy and procedure for managing complaints and this was accessible to people and their relatives.
The provider had a policy and procedure to provide end-of-life support to people. However, people did not require end-of-life support at the time of the inspection.
The provider had systems and process in place to monitor the quality of the service.
The registered manager and staff worked well together as a team.
People who used the service completed satisfaction surveys and all their results were positive.
The registered manager remained committed to working in partnership with other agencies and services to promote the service and to achieve positive outcomes for people.
Rating at last inspection: This service was registered with us on 15/08/2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on registration date of the service.
Follow up: We will continue to review information we receive about the service until we return to visit as part of our re-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