Care Guaranteed

Updated 22 April 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. 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 completed 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

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the registered manager is often out of the office. We needed to be sure that they would be available. We visited the office location on 6 March 2020 and spoke to people, staff, relatives and professionals on 18 March 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since they were registered. 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

People who used the service could not verbally share their views of the service. We spoke with two relatives, a person’s legal representative, and a visiting professional for their experience of the care provided. During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager and two staff members. We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and two people’s medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment, training and 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 registered manager to validate evidence we found. We looked at training and quality assurance records. We spoke with two relatives and four professionals who provided feedback on the service provided.

Updated 22 April 2020

About the service

Care Guaranteed is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to older people. They provide live in care workers for people in their own homes. Staff are companions for people and are available for support and care as required over 24 hours a day. At the time of this inspection seven people were receiving a service from Care Guaranteed. The registered manager co-ordinated the service from a home office location.

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

The quality monitoring systems did not support safe and best practice in all areas. For example, contact with relatives and legal representatives were not recorded and the purchased policies and procedures had not all been adapted to support the practice of the service.

There were enough staff, who had been safely recruited, available and working to provide live in care and support and to cover staff holidays. Staff suitable to become live in companions were recruited and matched to people. This companionship was to provide emotional support and to ensure people were safe to continue living at home. Staff understood how to protect people from abuse or discrimination and what actions to take if they were concerned. Any risks to people and staff were assessed and medicines were handled safely.

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. Staff were trained to support people effectively and the registered manager provided regular support and guidance to staff. The registered manager worked with health and social care professionals along with family and legal representatives to understand people’s needs, health and well-being needs and to ensure these were met. Staff supported people to eat regularly, cooking and preparing meals when required.

Staff were caring and had developed friendly relationships with people and their families. They treated people with respect and ensured their privacy and rights were protected. Staff knew people well and understood the importance of supporting their independence and maintaining their everyday routines. Care plans reflected peoples support needs and how they wanted to spend their time. The emphasis for staff was to support people to live their lives as close as they would if they were living alone. A staff member told us, “My main role is to assist and enable them to do as much as they can for themselves.” A complaints procedure was available people, their relatives and legal representatives were listened to with any concern or complaint taken seriously and resolved.

The registered manager was keeping the service small to ensure they maintained a full management overview of all the services provided. In this way they knew people, their relatives and legal representatives well along with the staff provided. Feedback about the registered manager was positive from all contacts and they were held in high regard for their approach. They maintained an inclusive and open culture where people and staff were listened to and valued. The registered manager was approachable and easily accessible. Regular spot checks and reviews were completed by the registered manager and in this way, they received regular feedback from everyone involved in the service provided.

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

Rating at last inspection

The service was registered with the Care Quality Commission in March 2019 and this was their first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned comprehensive inspection,

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.