Hillview Care Services Limited

Updated 25 February 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out 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.

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

This inspection was announced.

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 26 January 2022. We visited the location’s office/service on 26 January 2022.

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 who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. During and after the inspection we spoke with the registered manager and two care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment and training. 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 and reviewed further documents which were sent to us electronically by the provider after the site location visit.

Updated 25 February 2022

Hillview Care Services is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 11 people using the service.

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

The feedback we received from people who use the service and their relatives was positive. Relatives told us staff were kind and worked closely with them to monitor people’s well-being and support needs.

Records relating to people’s care and the management of the service were not always kept or sufficiently comprehensive. Improvement of the provider’s quality assurance systems was needed to ensure they were effective in identifying these recording shortfalls.

We found that people were supported by a small staff team who were familiar with their support needs and management of their medicines. People’s relatives told us staff arrived on time and communicated when they were running late and were confident in the skills of the staff who supported their family member.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities to record and report any concerns of abuse, accidents, incidents and near misses or changes in people’s wellbeing. Staff and people told us the registered manager provided care and was approachable and responded to any concerns.

The provider was reviewing their current systems to help them in delivering good quality care to people. They were open to receiving feedback from people and making improvements to 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

The last rating for this service was good (published 25 February 2021)

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about cancellation of care calls by the provider due to staff shortages. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. This inspection was carried out to follow up on these concerns.

Whilst we found no evidence to support these concerns, we did however find some evidence that the provider needed to make further improvements in areas relating to their own quality assurance processes and record keeping.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from Good to Requires Improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified a breach in relation to the provider’s quality assurance systems and record keeping at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.