Affinity Care and Support Services Limited

Updated 20 July 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service, family members and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced.

Inspection activity started on 12 June 2023 and ended on 10 July 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered with us. 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 1 person who used the service and 1 person's family member about their experience of the care provided.

We spoke with the registered manager who is also the provider, and they were the only member of staff providing care to people at the time of the inspection.

We looked at a range of records. This included 2 people’s care records. We looked at records related to the recruitment and training for staff. We also looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service and how the provider monitored the quality and safety of the service.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as telephone calls to enable us to engage with people and the registered manager/provider and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

Updated 20 July 2023

About the service

Affinity Care and Support Services Limited provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. Not everyone who uses 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. At the time of the inspection there were 2 people using the service and both were receiving personal care.

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

Risks to people were assessed and measures were put in place to minimise the risk of harm to them and others. There were effective systems in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. Recruitment processes were safe. Safe infection prevention and control procedures were followed to minimise the risk of the spread of infection. Medicines were managed safely; people received their medicines as prescribed.

People’s needs and choices were assessed, and they had a care plan detailing how their needs were to be effectively met and their care plans were kept under review. People’s communication needs were understood and met. People received the support they needed to maintain a healthy diet and their healthcare needs were well documented and understood. 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 were treated with kindness and their dignity and independence was fully respected. People and relevant others such as family members were involved in the provision of care and their views about the service and the care provided were listened to and acted upon.

There was a complaints procedure which was shared with people and relevant others. The registered manager/provider viewed complaints as a way of improving the quality of the service people received. People were fully involved along with relevant others in planning and reviewing their care.

The registered manager/provider understood their role and responsibilities and they were committed to ensuring people received high quality, person-centred care with good outcomes. There were robust systems and processes in place to check on the quality and safety of the service and improvements were made in a timely way. There was good partnership working with others to make sure people received all round care and support.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

This service was registered with us on 27 May 2022, and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

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

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology.’ This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and phone calls to engage with people and family members about their experiences of the service as part of this performance review and assessment.