Home Instead Senior Care

Updated 26 May 2022

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

One inspector carried out this inspection.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

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

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 06 April 2022 and ended on 11 April 2022. We visited the provider's office on 07 April 2022.

What we did before the inspection

In planning our inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service. This included any notifications (events which happened in the service that the provider is required to tell us about) and feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

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 the registered manager, the Nominated Individual, [The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider] and five staff members. The provider refers to care staff as "Caregivers."

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records and risk assessments. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff rotas, accident and incident analysis, the complaints log and quality assurance record.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at the providers training records and policies and procedures. We spoke with three people who used the service and two relatives. We also spoke with the local hospice.

Updated 26 May 2022

About the service

Home Instead Senior Care is a domiciliary care service. People are supported in their own homes so that they can live as independently as possible. At the time of our inspection there were 30 people receiving personal care.

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 provider refers to its care staff as caregivers.

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

The provider demonstrated safe recruitment practices. They carried out checks on the suitability of staff before they started work. People had the support they needed to manage and take their medicines safely.

The provider had measures in place to protect people from infections. The management team reviewed any accidents or incidents involving people who used the service, in order to learn from these.

Before people started to use the service, their individual needs and preferences were discussed and recorded for caregivers to follow. Caregivers had received training to reflect people’s needs and their responsibilities. People had support to prepare their meals and drinks where they needed this.

Caregivers and management worked effectively with community health and social care professionals to ensure people’s needs were met.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and Caregivers supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were very complimentary about the care and support they received from their caregivers. People described them as very kind and compassionate. The registered manager took time to match staff with the people's they supported needs and preferences in order to build a good relationship.

The management team promoted a person-centred culture within the service. People’s care and support was exceptionally kind and caring. People and their relatives were encouraged to provide feedback about the service they received, so any improvements could be identified.

The provider had quality assurance systems and processes in place to enable them to monitor and improve people's care. Caregivers and management sought to maintain positive working relationships with the community professionals involved in people’s care.

The service was led by two directors who were also the owners of the company [one was the registered manager and the other the nominated individual]. Caregivers demonstrated a strong level of engagement, a real sense of pride of working for Home Instead and there was a high level of caregivers job satisfaction. The provider was passionate about care and put people at the centre of the service delivery. They welcomed any form of external and internal auditing and feedback received was treated as an opportunity to reflect and further improve the quality of the service for people.

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

Why we inspected

This service was registered with us on 25 February 2020 and this is the first inspection.

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Follow up

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