Valor Care Services, Training and Consultancy Limited

Updated 18 October 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one Expert 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.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

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 11 August 2022 and ended on 16 August 2022. We visited the location’s office on 11 August 2022.

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 (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 nine people, three relatives, two staff and the registered manager. We reviewed five people’s care records. which included their needs and risk assessments and care plans. We reviewed five staff files which included recruitment and training information, supervision records and competency assessments. We also checked quality assurance records and team meeting minutes.

Updated 18 October 2022

About the service

Valor Care Services, Training and Consultancy Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to elderly and disabled people in their own homes. 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 this inspection the service was supporting 44 people.

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

People told us they felt safe with care staff and the way they were supported. Staff were trained to deliver care safely and safeguard people from abuse. People’s risks were assessed, and plans were in place to reduce them. There were enough staff available to ensure people did not experience missed care visits and staff followed good hygiene practices.

People’s needs were assessed, and 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 were inducted and supervised, and people were supported to access care services.

People and staff were positive about the management of the service and the provider planned to expand the office-based team. The registered manager sought and acted on feedback. Quality checks were carried out and the provider worked in partnership with others.

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 8 October 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations. However, we have made a recommendation about auditing staff recruitment records.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 29 August and 9 September 2021. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve staffing.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Valor Care Services, Training and Consultancy Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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

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