Archived: Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited - Sheffield

Updated 4 April 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 6 and 7 March 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or visiting people. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection team consisted of two adult social care inspectors.

Prior to the inspection, we gathered information from a number of sources. We reviewed the information we held about the service, which included correspondence we had received and notifications submitted to us by the service. A notification should be sent to CQC every time a significant incident has taken place. For example, where a person who uses the service experiences a serious injury. We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR), which the registered provider completed before the inspection. The PIR is a form that asks the registered provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We contacted Sheffield local authority and Healthwatch (Sheffield) to obtain their views of the service. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. All of the comments and feedback received were reviewed and used to assist and inform our inspection.

On 6 March 2018, we visited the service’s office to see the registered manager, speak with staff and to review care records and policies and procedures. We spoke with the registered manager, the national development manager, the business manager, a trainer, the compliance officer and three support workers in person during the visit to the office.

We reviewed a range of records, which included care records for three people, four staff training, support and employment records and other records relating to the management of the domiciliary care agency.

On 7 March 2018, we telephoned eight relatives or representatives of people who received support to obtain their views of Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited – Sheffield.

Updated 4 April 2018

Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited - Sheffield is a domiciliary care agency. It is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. The service provides individual support to older people, younger adults and children. Support is mainly based around the provision of activities but may include some assistance with personal care. The services office is located in the centre of Sheffield, close to all transport links.

At the time of this inspection Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited - Sheffield was supporting 11 people whose support included the provision of the regulated activity personal care. Some of the people supported were under 16 years of age and included sibling groups. We were unable to fully communicate directly with the children and younger adults receiving support. We spoke with their representatives and relatives to obtain their views of the support provided.

At our last inspection, we rated the service Good. At this inspection, we found the evidence continued to support the rating of Good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection, we found the service remained Good.

Why the service is rated Good.

Relatives and representatives of people receiving support told us they were confident their family member was safe.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities in keeping people safe.

Policies and procedures for the safe administration of medicines were in place should this support be required.

There were robust recruitment procedures in operation to promote people’s safety.

Staff were appropriately trained and supervised to provide care and support to people who used the service.

Relatives and representatives of people receiving support felt staff had the right skills to do their job. They said staff were respectful and caring in their approach.

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

People’s support plans contained relevant person centred information to inform staff. The support plans had been reviewed to ensure they were up to date.

People were confident in reporting concerns to the registered manager and felt they would be listened to.

There were quality assurance and audit processes in place to make sure the service was running well.

The service had a full range of policies and procedures available to staff.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.