Updated 5 March 2019
The inspection: We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.
Inspection team: One inspector and an expert by experience carried out this inspection. 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 expert had personal experience of supporting older people living with dementia who used community services.
Service and service type: This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to older adults. Not everyone using Inter-County Nursing and Care Services: Rustington, receives regulated activity. Care Quality Commission [CQC] only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’ such as help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.
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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in. This inspection took place on the 29 November and 3 December 2018.
Inspection site visit activity included a visit to the office location on 29 November 2018 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We visited people in their own homes on 3 December 2018.
What we did: We reviewed information we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We sought feedback from the local authority and health professionals who worked with the service. Due to technical problems, we did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return [PIR] on this occasion. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually 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.
Before, during and following the inspection we reviewed and spoke with;
• Three people, their care records and risk assessments
• Four staff, including their recruitment, training and supervision records
• Records of accidents, incidents, complaints and compliments
• Audits, quality assurance reports and surveys [including those prepared by health commissioners]
•Observed and spoke with five care staff while they provided support to two people in their homes
• Spoke with the registered manager, quality assurance manager, a senior care supervisor and five care staff
• Spoke with ten people using the service and four relatives
• We also spoke with a West Sussex County Council contracts officer and a specialist palliative care nurse from a local hospice