Background to this inspection
Updated
17 January 2020
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. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
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.
Inspection team
This 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 and flats. It provides a service to younger and older adults.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 06 December and ended on 19 December 2019. We visited the office location on 06 December 2019.
What we did before the 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.
During the inspection
During the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager, the care co-ordinator and two care staff. We looked at five people’s care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision records. We reviewed multiple records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider during and after the inspection.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to corroborate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records and staff rotas. We spoke to professionals from the local authority, 15 people and their relatives via telephone to seek their views about the care. We also spoke to four care staff.
Updated
17 January 2020
About the service
Guardian Home Care provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. Care Quality Commission (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. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 144 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they received safe care and treatment. They spoke positively about the care staff and the support the service provided. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited. The provider’s arrangements for organising staff rotas and monitoring care visits were not effective to promote smooth delivery of care visits. We made a recommendation about this. People were supported with the safe use of medicines and staff knew how to report concerns about abuse.
People were supported by staff who had received a range of training and supervision to enable them to carry out their role safely. Staff supported people to have maximum choice and control of their lives, the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were asked to consent to their care and their ability to make their own decisions was assessed. People received support to maintain good nutrition and hydration and their healthcare needs were understood and met.
People told us they were treated with dignity and staff were respectful of their homes. Staff knew how to maintain people’s privacy and confidentiality. They were respectful of people’s protected characteristics such as gender, cultural and religious needs.
Care plans contained personalised information on people’s health and communication needs plus their likes and dislikes. People and family members knew how to make a complaint and they were confident about complaining should they need to. They were confident that their complaint would be listened to and acted upon quickly. However, we found there had been a long delay in sending an outcome letter of investigations carried out after a compliant. We made a recommendation about this.
The registered provider had governance systems to support the delivery of safe care. However, their systems needed to ensure the effective monitoring and planning of care visits. The registered manager showed they were committed to improving the service and displayed knowledge and understanding around the importance of working closely with other agencies and healthcare professionals where needed.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
This service was registered with us on 31/12/2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on our inspection schedule.
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.