Home Instead

Updated 14 December 2021

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 and an expert by experience in the care of older people, who made telephone calls to people to gain their views about the service. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection site visit activity started on 28 October 2021 and ended on 12 November 2021. We visited the office location on 28 October 2021 to see the registered manager and provider.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service, including registration reports, focused inspection report and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR) completed in October 2021. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with nine people (or their relatives) about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the nominated individual, registered manager, an office team member and three care team members. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We received feedback from five external health or social care professionals.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service including, training, quality monitoring, policies and procedures were also reviewed.

Updated 14 December 2021

About the service

Home Instead is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received the regulated activity of 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. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing personal care to 21 people.

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

People and their relatives were supported by an extremely caring staff team which meant they experienced exceptional care. Feedback from people, family members, external professionals and staff demonstrated the caring and empowering culture was well embedded across the organisation. People were extremely complimentary about staff and words used to described them included ‘brilliant’, ‘wonderful’, ‘very helpful’ and ‘extremely kind’.

People were truly respected and valued as individuals whilst being empowered to be partners in their care by an exceptional and distinctive service. There was a strong visible person-centred culture. The management team ensured that staff in all roles were motivated and provided care and support that was exceptionally compassionate and kind. Feedback from people was overwhelmingly positive. Staff knew the people they were supporting very well including their preferences, which helped to ensure a high level of personalised care was delivered.

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. Care was tailored to meet the individual needs of people and was delivered in a way to ensure maximum flexibility, choice, independence and continuity of care. People's needs were assessed prior to the commencement of the service. The assessment included people's health, physical and emotional as well as communication needs.

The provider had a system that considered careful matching of the staff with people they supported. Mutual interests and individual personalities were taken into account to make sure that appropriate and caring relationship can be built between care workers and people using the service.

Staff were extremely complimentary about the management team. The feedback we received showed the provider's aim to establish an open and inclusive culture that put people first was being achieved. The management team had a clear vision and credible strategies to deliver high-quality care and support. They promoted a positive culture that was person-centred, open, inclusive and empowering which achieved good outcomes for people. Effective and continuous governance was well embedded into the running of the service with a strong framework of accountability to monitor performance and risk leading to the delivery of a high-quality service.

People were supported by familiar staff who were safely recruited and who had the relevant training and qualifications to safely support them. There were enough staff to meet people's needs and ensure no care calls were missed.

Staff and the management team understood how to protect and safeguard people. Risks to people were assessed and mitigated, which reduced the risk of harm. Where people required support with their personal care, health, diet and medicines, this was carried out safely. Staff used personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect people from the risks of infection.

The team at Home Instead worked well with various local health and social care professionals who were very complimentary about the service and the care provided to people.

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)

This service was registered with us on 14 June 2019 and this is the first comprehensive inspection. A focused inspection was undertaken in September 2020 following which the key questions safe and well-led were both rated Good however an overall rating was not provided.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was registered.

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.