Background to this inspection
Updated
27 February 2020
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
One inspector visited the service.
Service and service type This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. 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 registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this 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. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. In preparation for the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service and statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We visited six people in their home, met a person at the office and spoke by telephone to three further people to ask them about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with six relatives and a person's legal representative. We looked at six people's care records and at medicine records.
We spoke with the registered manager, another director in the company and with seven members of staff which included five care staff, the care supervisor and a member of office staff. We looked at systems for staff recruitment, induction, supervision and at training records. We also looked at quality monitoring records relating to the management of the service such as 'spot checks' of staff working in people’s homes and survey responses. We sought feedback about the service from commissioners as well as health and social care professionals who worked with staff. We received a response from one of them.
Updated
27 February 2020
About the service
Absolute Care South West Limited is a domiciliary care agency in Honiton which provided personal care to people living in their own homes in East Devon. People receiving a service included those living with dementia, mental health needs and with physical and learning disabilities.
At the time of the inspection the agency was providing personal care for 51 people and employed 20 care staff and two office staff. 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 received an exceptionally personalised service because staff had an excellent understanding of their needs. Staff were committed to enabling people to live fulfilling lives. People, relatives and professionals gave us feedback about the exceptionally caring approach of staff.
The agency had a strong, person-centred culture and people valued their relationships with staff. Care staff were motivated and spoke with kindness and compassion about the people who they treated like members of their extended family. Staff went that extra mile for people to ensure they felt valued and remained part of their local community.
People praised staff who were excellent at promoting each person's dignity, wellbeing and independence, which improved their quality of life. The registered manager promoted people's human rights, they challenged and tackled discrimination on people’s behalf whenever they encountered it.
People said they felt safe and well cared for and that the service was reliable. Staff had received safeguarding training and knew about the different types of abuse, and ways to protect people. People received their medicines safely and on time, with further improvements in medicine administration records planned.
People's care records were personalised about their care needs, wishes and preferences, although daily care records could be more personalised . People were consulted and involved in decisions about their care.
People received consistent support from well-trained staff who knew them well. People praised the quality of the service they received and told us they would recommend it to other people who required this type of support. Complaints and incidents were used as opportunities to learn and improve.
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. Staff made sure people's legal rights were respected.
The agency was well led by the registered manager who was also a director of the company. They worked alongside staff in day to day practice and sought feedback from people and staff to continually improve. The service worked well with other health and social care professionals to support people.
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 27 July 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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.