Background to this inspection
Updated
4 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 team consisted of 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 was provided by a single provider and therefore a registered manager was not required.The provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave a period notice of the inspection. We needed to be sure the provider would be in the office to support the inspection. However, the provider was not available for when we planned to visit the office, so we arranged to speak with people their relatives and staff first. We requested documents to be sent to us. We arranged to meet with the provider in the office when they were available. Inspection activity started on 15 September 2021 and ended on 6 October 2021 when we visited the office.
What we did before inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the they registered. 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.
Before the office visit
We spoke with two people and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff, including the provider, office staff, senior care workers and care workers.
During the office visit
We reviewed a range of records. We looked at three people's care records and medicines records. We looked the systems the provider had in place to monitor the quality of the service. We looked at staff files including supervision notes. We looked at minutes of meetings the service held. We looked at quality assurance and monitoring systems in place.
Updated
4 December 2021
About the service
Beeches Homecare Services (Kent) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. 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. The service had only started providing a regulated activity to people in July 2020 and were slowly expanding their service. The service was providing personal care to 8 people at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Staff were not always recruited as safely as they should be. Some safety checks had not been completed before staff started working with people.
Risk to people health and safety where identified. However, guidance on what action to take if the risk occurred was not consistently recorded. Staff did know what action to take.
People said they felt safe with the staff when they received care in their own homes. People told us they were treated kindly and compassionately by the staff.
People were supported to express their views and make decisions about their care. 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.
People's needs were assessed and reviewed to ensure care being delivered was up to date and reflective of their needs. People had care plans that provided detailed guidance for staff on the support and care that they needed on a daily basis. Care plans were specific and personalised. People were supported to do things they wanted to do. People consented to their care and were supported by staff who were trained to fulfil their roles effectively. Medicines were managed safety and people received their medicines as prescribed by their doctor.
People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and received person-centred care that promoted their dignity and independence. When there were any incidents and accidents these were recorded, and steps were taken to prevent any re-occurrence. Staff understood how to prevent infection and wore protective equipment when necessary.
There were sufficient numbers of staff to provide the care people needed. People and their relatives said that staff arrived when they should and stayed the allotted amount of time. They reported that they had not had any missed calls. Staff received the training they needed to look after people in the way that suited them best. Staff received support, guidance and advice from the management team.
Staff communicated effectively with people and with each other to make sure people's needs were met in the way they had chosen. When people were unwell or needed extra support, they were referred to health care professionals and other external agencies.
People told us the service was well managed. Any complaints that were made were managed in the right way and people had been invited to suggest improvements to the service.
People and their relatives gave positive feedback about the service they received. They said the provider was approachable and sorted out any issues they had. Staff and people thought highly of the provider and staff. Staff knew their roles and were able to tell us about the values and the vision of the service. There were adequate quality assurance measures in place.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 21 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the length of time since the service registered with us.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.