Background to this inspection
Updated
21 December 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
The inspection was conducted by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats and specialist housing.
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 registered manager would be at the registered location to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 3 November 2021 with a visit to the registered location and ended on 17 November 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with three people who used the service and one relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with two members of staff including the registered manager and a senior care worker. We attempted to speak to three further care staff but were unsuccessful. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records and accompanying medicine records. We looked at two 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.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.
Updated
21 December 2021
About the service
Nottingham Assured Home Care Ltd is a domiciliary home care service providing personal care to adults with personal care needs. At the time of our inspection Nottingham Assured Home Care Ltd were supporting six 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 told us they felt safe and received support according to their wishes. Medicines were managed safely and, effective infection control measures were in place in order to keep people safe. The provider had safe recruitment processes in place and there were enough staff to safely support people. Risks were assessed and actions in place to reduce known risks.
People told us they felt confident raising concerns to the manager and action was taken when required. The provider had systems in place for monitoring the safety and quality of the service. Shortfalls were identified, and appropriate action taken to drive service improvement. Lessons were learnt from and action taken to reduce repeated incidents.
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.
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 15 June 2021). 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 focused inspection of this service on 06 May 2021. 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 their governance systems.
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 Nottingham Assured Home Care Limited 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.