Alpha Care Specialists Ltd

Updated 30 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and two experts by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. The experts by experience and a Greek speaking inspector made telephone calls to people using the service and their relatives.

Service and service type:

Alpha Care Specialists is a domiciliary care agency offering a range of services including personal care to people who need support due to age, ill-health or disabilities. 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 the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be available. We visited the office location on 17 April 2019 to see the registered manager and some care staff; and to review care records, policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before the inspection reviewed the provider information return PIR). A PIR is a form that asks

the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and the

improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, Chief Executive and four care workers in person. After the inspection we spoke with ten people using the service and relatives of eight other people using the service to seek their views.

We looked at a range of records; five people’s care files, three people’s medicines records, three staff files, staff training, supervision and appraisals, records of complaints and incidents, policies and quality assurance monitoring records.

Updated 30 August 2019

About the service: Alpha Care Specialists is a domiciliary care service offering personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection the service was providing care to adults of all ages. The service specialises in services for people from the Greek and Greek Cypriot community but offers services to people from any cultural background.

People’s experience of using this service: People had an exceptionally good experience using this service. They and their relatives told us they found the care workers to be reliable and caring and they had formed meaningful relationships with them. They felt the service they received was of a high standard.

The service had introduced some additional services which supported people after hospital stays and to prevent re-admissions to hospital. The service included collecting the person from hospital, taking them home and proving short and medium term care and practical support. They also operated some drop-in day services and support and transport for people to attend these. There was a commitment to meeting people’s holistic needs.

The service addressed risks to people’s safety. People had individual risk assessments which provided guidance to staff on how to ensure people were cared for safely. People said they felt safe with their care workers.

Staff were trained in safeguarding and had a good understanding of how to recognise abuse and how to respond to it. Staff found their training helpful and felt well supported by the registered manager and the Chief Executive.

People’s medicines were managed safely and the service supported them with their health needs.

Care workers showed a caring and person-centred attitude towards their work and enjoyed their jobs. They developed meaningful relationships with people they provided care to. People were involved in planning their care and making any changes they wished to their service.

The service was responsive to people’s holistic needs and provided extra innovative services to meet the needs of people in the local community. Staff spent quality time with people as well as providing personal care and household task support.

The registered manager had a good oversight of the service and, with support from the Chief Executive for the organisation, operated quality monitoring systems which ensured people were satisfied with their care.

The service met the characteristics of a good service in all areas. More information is in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: The rating at the last inspection was Good (report published in October 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on previous rating.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good.

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