Updated 22 February 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 team consisted of one inspector, one assistant inspector and an 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. The expert by experience had experience of supporting and caring for young and older people.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides personal care to adults with a range of support needs, including dementia and physical disability.
There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.
Notice of inspection:
We gave the service short notice of the inspection because we wanted to visit people in their homes and we needed support from the registered manager to arrange this.
Inspection site visit activity started on 4 February 2019 and ended on 5 February 2019.
On the 4 February 2019 we visited four people in their homes to ask their opinions about the care they received and look at their care records. Whilst out on visits we were accompanied by the care manager and met and spoke with four relatives and three care workers. We also spoke over the telephone with six people who used the service and five relatives.
On the 5 February 2019 we visited the office location to see the registered manager, interview staff and review care records and policies and procedures relating to the service. We interviewed six staff including, a care coordinator, a team leader and care workers.
What we did:
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.
Prior to the inspection visit we gathered information from many sources. We looked at the information received about the service from notifications sent to the Care Quality Commission by the registered manager. We also spoke with the local authority commissioners, contracts officers and safeguarding and Healthwatch (Barnsley). Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.