Updated 3 April 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:
This inspection was conducted by one adult social care inspector.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone using this service receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
The registered provider was an individual who managed the service on a day to day basis. Registered providers are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a small service and we needed to be sure someone would be available at the office to speak with.
Inspection site visit activity started on 12 February 2019 and ended on 18 February 2019 following speaking with staff, people who use service and some relatives. We visited the office location on 12 February to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did:
Before our inspection we completed our planning tool and reviewed the information we held on the service. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people supported by the service and previous inspection reports.
We also checked to see if any information concerning the care and welfare of people supported by the service had been received. We contacted the commissioning departments who used Honor Care Services. This helped us to gain a balanced overview of what people experienced using the service.
As part of the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. 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.
During the visit we spoke with both the registered provider and the care coordinator. As part of the inspection we spoke to people who used the service. This helped us understand the experiences of the person.
Following the site visit we spoke with a range of people about Honor Care Services They included three people who used the service, the care coordinator, two relatives and three care staff.