Background to this inspection
Updated
24 October 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 team consisted of two inspectors.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in a ‘supported living’ setting[s], so that they can live as independently as possible. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.
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
The inspection took place on 29 August 2019. We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to be sure the registered manager and staff would be in the office to speak with us.
What we did before the inspection
Prior to this inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service, including data about safeguarding and statutory notifications. Statutory notifications are information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern at our inspection
During the inspection
We spoke with three people who used the service, two relatives, and four staff members including the registered manager and the provider of the service. We reviewed a range of documents including four care plans, three staff recruitment files, medication administration records, accident and incidents records, policies and procedures and internal audits that had been completed.
After the inspection
Following the inspection, we continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
24 October 2019
About the service
Transform Home Care North West Surrey - Mitchison Court is a domiciliary care agency. It provides a service to older adults, some of whom are living with dementia. Not everyone using Transform Home Care North West Surrey receives a regulated activity; 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 take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, it was providing the regulated activity of personal care to 22 people living in their own houses and flats
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People received safe and good quality care from staff who were aware of their responsibility to safeguard people from abuse. Risks to people were appropriately recorded and managed and medicines were administered and recorded safely. There were sufficient numbers of staff which allowed flexibility in call times to be given to people to meet their personalised needs. 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 support this practice. People and relatives felt staff were competent in their roles, thanks to safe recruitment processes and effective training, supervisions and observations.
Staff treated people with genuine affection and kindness, which led people to feel they could approach them with any requests. Although people we spoke with had never had to complain to the service, they felt comfortable to do so if needed. Staff knew people well due to detailed care plans that included information around people’s backgrounds and preferences. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity, whilst encouraging them to be independent where safe to do so.
The service was not delivering end of life care to anyone at the time of the inspection, but this topic had been discussed and recorded in people’s care files. The service had strong partnership working links with other agencies to improve their knowledge and the care available for people, such as local volunteers and medical consultants. Thorough quality assurance checks identified shortfalls which were resolved in a timely manner.
People, relatives and staff were complimentary on the running of the service and felt that the management team were approachable. Staff felt they were listened to and were kept up to date with the latest care guidance and important information through weekly newsletters. 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)
This is the first inspection since the service registered with us on 4 September 2018.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the service’s registration date.
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.