Plan-it Homecare Limited

Updated 3 June 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 carried out by one inspector, an inspection manager, an assistant inspector, and an Expert by Experience who made telephone calls to people who used the service and their relatives. 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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because we needed to make sure the registered manager would be available to support the inspection. We visited the office location on 26 February 2020 and phone calls were made to people who used the service and their relatives on 26 and 27 February 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority who did not have any concerns about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 eight people who received support from the service and four relatives of people who were unable to share their views of the support they received. We spoke with nine members of staff including the provider, the registered manager, members of the management team, office staff and three care workers. We reviewed a range of records which included eight people's care records and medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment. We looked at other records relating to the management of the service, such as training records, audits and quality satisfaction survey results.

After the inspection

We reviewed additional information sent to us by the provider.

Updated 3 June 2020

Plan-It Homecare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 124 younger adults and older people, some of whom, were living with dementia. The service also provides reablement support to people to enable them to regain skills following a hospital stay.

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 care and support provided to people was person centred. People's care plans and risk assessments included information about their preferred care, support needs, and preferences and this was followed by staff. Staff had received training about safeguarding people from abuse and knew how to respond to and report any allegation or suspicion of harm or abuse. They understood the importance of reporting concerns immediately. The service's recruitment procedures were designed to ensure that staff employed were suitable for the work they would be undertaking.

Staff received regular training and new staff had received an induction to the service before starting work. Staff also received supervision meetings with their manager to support them in carrying out their roles. Spot checks of staff practice and competency had taken place.

People were complimentary of the care they received. People said they trusted the service because of their reliability, consistency, and the caring approach of staff. People and their family members were involved in decisions about people’s care. They told us they had been involved in agreeing people's care plans and had participated in reviews of the care and support provided to people. People and family members said staff asked people for their consent to carry out care and support tasks.

Information about people's religious, cultural and communication needs was included in their care plans to assist staff in supporting people as appropriate. People were supported to have 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.

People had been asked about their views of the care and support that they received, and the provider used this feedback, and a range of quality assurance checks to continually improve the service. People and family members were aware of the service's complaints procedure and knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. T Actions had been taken to address any concerns.

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 inspection was Good (published August 2017).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to inspect as part of our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.