Care At Home Services Limited

Updated 11 March 2023

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

The 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 3 days’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 23 February 2023 and ended on 27 February 2023. We visited the location’s office on 23 February 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people using the service and we contacted 3 care workers via email. We met the registered manager and an improvement consultant supporting the service. We looked at a range of records which included the care records for 3 people, 2 care worker’s files and a range of records including those used for monitoring the quality of the service, such as audits and policies.

Updated 11 March 2023

About the service

Care at Home Service is a domiciliary care agency providing a range of services including personal care for older people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the provider was supporting 6 people who were receiving personal care. All the people had their care funded and organised by the local authority.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The provider had a robust process for the recruitment of new staff. People told us they felt safe when they received care in their own home from staff. The provider ensured medicines were managed safely and administered as prescribed. There were processes in place for the investigation of safeguarding concerns and incidents and accidents which enabled lessons to be learned to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

People felt the staff supported them in a kind and caring manner and respected their privacy and dignity. The provider ensured complaints were investigated and responded to in a timely manner. The provider recorded Information related to the discussion with people about their end of life care wishes. People’s communication support needs were identified in their care plan and were met.

People received care in a person centred manner. Care plans identified people’s support needs and their wishes as to how they wanted their care provided.

The provider had developed a range of quality assurance processes to monitor the quality of the care being provided. People were happy with the care they received.

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 22 April 2020).

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.

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider reviewed best practice in relation to recruitment, the management of medicines, end of life care and support and responding to complaints. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on all the recommendations we made and had made improvements.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 3 March 2020. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve good governance.

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, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements.

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 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 Care at Home Services Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.