Archived: Alina Homecare Specialist Care - Dorset

Updated 13 July 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:

This inspection was completed by two inspectors.

Service and service type:

Alina Homecare Specialist Care - Dorset is a domiciliary care agency. This service provides care and support to people living in their own homes.

Not everyone using Alina Homecare Specialist Care - Dorset received 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.

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 site visit activity started on 21 May 2019 and ended on 23 May 2019. We visited the office location on the morning of 21 March 2019 and people in their homes in the afternoon. We returned to the office all day on 23 May 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit so that people could be informed of our visit and permissions could be sought to arrange home visits.

What we did:

We reviewed information we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse; and we sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service.

We visited four people’s homes and spoke with four people who used the service. We met with three relatives. We received feedback from two health and social care professionals via telephone.

We spoke with the registered manager, operations manager and deputy manager. We met with six staff. We reviewed seven people’s care files, four Medicine Administration Records (MAR), policies, risk assessments, health and safety records, incident reporting, consent to care and treatment and quality audits. We looked at four staff files, the recruitment process, complaints, and training and supervision records.

Updated 13 July 2019

About the service:

Alina Homecare Specialist Care - Dorset is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. They provide this service to people with a range of needs including people with learning disabilities, mental health conditions, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. This is either 24 hour support or short periods of support for people on a daily basis. At the time of our inspection there were 25 people receiving personal care from the service.

Rating at last inspection:

Good. Published November 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last comprehensive inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

At this inspection we found breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in relation to safe care and treatment and governance.

Some risk assessments were not always up to date and some directed staff to protocols and guidance that had not been created. This meant that staff were not always aware of measures to safeguard people from risks. People’s positive behaviour support plans did not give staff guidance on how to support people who displayed physical aggression. This meant that people were at risk of staff using approaches they may not have been trained to use or that were not safe or in line with best practice.

Quality monitoring systems were not robust or effective to ensure improvement actions were taken promptly. Some audits were not always completed.

Notifiable incidents and concerns were not always shared with CQC as required by law. Staff were not always respectful in the language they used to describe people’s behaviours. However, people, their families and professionals described the staff as caring, kind and friendly. 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 supported this practice.

People and relatives told us they were happy with the service, and that staff had a good understanding of their needs and preferences. Staff understood how to recognise signs of abuse and the actions needed if abuse was suspected. There were enough staff to provide safe care and recruitment checks had ensured they were suitable to work with vulnerable adults. Medicines were administered and managed safely by trained staff.

The service had an open and positive culture that encouraged involvement of people, their families, staff and other professional organisations. Leadership was visible and promoted teamwork. People, professional’s and relatives spoke highly about the management and staff had a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

Follow up:

We will request an action plan for 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 return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

A full description of our findings can be found in the sections below.