Ray Care Services

Updated 6 October 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 carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Ray Care Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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 a short period notice of the inspection. This was because we wanted to ensure the registered manager would be available to support the inspection during the visit to the office location.

Inspection activity started on 18 August 2021 and ended on 13 September 2021. We visited the office location on 10 September 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We sought feedback from professionals who work with 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 three people who used the service, three relatives and three staff by telephone. We spoke with the registered manager during the visit to the office location.

We asked the provider to send us various records and documents that we reviewed before the visit to the office location. This included risk assessments for two people, and staff recruitment and training records. We also looked at records relating to the management of the service, including quality monitoring audits. We looked at a person’s care plan, and recruitment records for one staff member during the visit to the office location.

Updated 6 October 2021

About the service

Ray Care Services is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, the service was supporting seven people with personal care.

Not everyone supported by this type of service receives 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 provider had quality monitoring processes, but insufficient staff meant the registered manager was not always able to audit and update people’s care plans and staff records in a timely way. This was because the registered manager was mainly out of the office supporting people with their care. This had the potential to have an impact on the accuracy of the information that staff needed in people's care plans to provide safe and effective care.

There were not enough staff to support people at agreed times. People experienced some late care visits, but they said staff always provided very good care and support. The provider was actively seeking to recruit more staff, but they were facing challenges with this. They assured us that there was currently no risk of them not being able to provide support to people who used the service.

People felt safe and well supported by staff and the registered manager. Risks to people had been assessed and managed well. Medicines were managed safely by trained staff. Staff followed infection prevention and control guidance to reduce the risk of the spread of infections. Incidents were reviewed and preventative actions had been taken to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Staff were appropriately trained for their roles. Staff felt supported well by the registered manager. When required, staff supported people well to eat and drink.

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 and their relatives said staff were caring and friendly. Staff said they had good relationships with people they supported, and they enjoyed their work. People were involved in decisions about their care and support. Staff supported people in a way that promoted their privacy, dignity and independence.

People said they were supported well by staff to meet their care needs. People’s complaints and concerns were dealt with and used to improve the service. Staff supported people at the end of their lives if this support was required.

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

Rating at last inspection

This is the first inspection for this service.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the provider’s registration date and our monitoring of the service.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this full report.

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.