Updated 11 August 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 conducted by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. 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
Sirius Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own home. 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 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to ensure staff would be available at the office to assist.
Inspection activity started on 15 July 2021 and ended on 21 July 2020. We visited the office location on 15 July 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service. This included information from the provider and from other sources. We requested feedback from the local authority who contracted with this service. We used all this information to plan our inspection. Due to technical problems, the provider was not able to complete a Provider Information Return [PIR] prior to the 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. The provider sent the PIR to the inspection team during the inspection. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
We spoke with four people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with twelve members of staff including the provider, registered manager, assistant manager and care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff 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 provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with two professionals who regularly visited the service.