Archived: Carewatch (North Birmingham)

Updated 9 April 2015

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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.’

This inspection took place on 20 and 21 January 2015 and was announced. The provider was given 24 hours notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

During our inspection we looked at the information we held about the service. This included notifications received from the provider about deaths, accidents/incidents and safeguarding alerts which they are required to send us by law. We also reviewed regular reports sent to us by the local authority that purchase the care on behalf of people, to see what information they held about the service.

During our inspection we spoke with five people that used the service, eight relatives, six care staff, one supervisor, a care planning officer, the registered manager and the office manager. We looked at, safeguarding and complaints records, compliment cards and sampled four people’s care records; this included their medication administration records and daily reports. We also looked at the recruitment records of two care staff, minutes of staff meetings, completed questionnaires sent to the service and quality assurance records. We spoke with two health and social care professionals, to see what information they could tell us about the service.

Updated 9 April 2015

This was an announced inspection, which took place 20 and 21 January 2015. We gave the provider 24 hours notice that we would be visiting the service. This was because the service provides domiciliary care and we wanted to be sure that staff would be available. We last inspected the service on 17 April 2014; there were no breaches of legal requirements at that inspection.

Carewatch North Birmingham is a privately owned service, which provides a personal care service to people living in their own homes.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they 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.

All the people we spoke with said they received a safe service. Clear procedures were in place to ensure that people received a service that was safe; staff followed the procedures to ensure the risk of harm to people was reduced. The risk of harm to people receiving a service was assessed and managed appropriately; this ensured that people received care and support in a safe way. Where people received support from staff with taking prescribed medicines, this was done in a way that ensured the risk to people was minimised.

People told us that they felt that there were enough staff employed to meet their needs and offer them a reliable and flexible service. Everyone that used the service and their relatives felt the staff that supported them were trained and competent. Staff received the training development and support needed to ensure they did their job well and provided an effective service.

The provider had not ensured all staff had sufficient understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to ensure that they protected people’s rights. The provisions of the MCA are used to protect people who might not be able to make informed decisions about the care or treatment they receive.

People told us that where required staff supported them with their nutrition and health care needs. All the people spoken with told us they had a good relationship with the staff that supported them. People said they were able to make decisions about their care and were actively involved in how their care was planned and delivered. People were able to raise their concerns or complaints and these were thoroughly investigated and responded to, so people were confident they were listened to and their concerns taken seriously.

Everyone spoken with said they received a good quality service. The management of the service was stable, with robust processes in place to monitor the quality of the service. People were asked to comment on the quality of service they received and the information was used to improve the service.