Border Cottage Care

Updated 2 August 2019

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 one inspector.

Service and service type

This service 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

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 31 May 2019 and ended on 6 June 2019. We visited the office location on both dates.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and 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 reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

We spoke with the nominated individual who was also the registered manager, the operations manager, the care manager and six care staff. We spoke by telephone with three people who used the service and 10 relatives.

Updated 2 August 2019

About the service

Border Cottage Care is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to 50 people in their own homes at the time of the inspection.

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.

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

People felt safe and trusted the staff who cared for them. Staff understood how to keep people safe and risk management plans were detailed. Staff knew individual risks and felt confident to care for people safely.

Staff felt very well supported through regular training and supervision. People thought staff had the right approach and skills to care for their needs. There was clear communication and effective teamwork within the organisation.

People enjoyed consistent person-centred care from respectful, reliable, compassionate and caring staff.

Regular staff worked with individual people to provide person-centred care within secure professional relationships.

Staff were highly valued and cared about as individuals and there was an open friendly and transparent culture in the service. The service was well managed and the provider empowered and trusted staff to work to a very high standard of care, supporting people in individual and personalised ways. Systems and processes were in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service and the management team was responsive to feedback which enabled them to drive improvement.

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. Records demonstrated people’s choice, although they needed to be strengthened around best interest decision making.

We made recommendations around the recording and auditing of medicines and the recording of decisions made in people’s best interests.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (report published 6 December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.