Background to this inspection
Updated
26 July 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. 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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
This inspection was conducted by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
Before the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service including information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law. We requested and received feedback from other stakeholders. These included the local authority safeguarding team and commissioning team and Healthwatch Kirklees. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
During the inspection, we spoke with five people using the service and three relatives of people using the service. We spoke with nine staff members; this included the nominated individual, head of care, registered manager, care service manager, care coordinator and carer workers. We received feedback from one healthcare professional who regularly worked with the service. We looked at care records for five people using the service including medicine administration records. We looked at training, recruitment and supervision records for three staff. We also looked at various policies and procedures and reviewed the quality assurance and monitoring systems of the service.
After the inspection
We exchanged emails with the registered manager for additional evidence and updates on the actions being taken by the provider following this inspection. This information was used as part of our inspection.
Updated
26 July 2019
About the service
Choices Homecare is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in Kirklees, Wakefield and the surrounding areas. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing care to 99 people and there were 66 staff members. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. 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.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People and relatives told us they felt safe with the care provided and were complimentary about the way in which care was delivered.
The provider completed person centred assessments and care plans were updated in response to changes. Some aspects of the recording of medication, risk assessments and care plans required further detail, but this was not found to have impacted on people using the service and the provider immediately addressed the issues found.
Staff showed a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities for keeping people safe from harm. Individual and environmental risks had been assessed to minimise the risk of harm to people and staff during care visits. There was after-hours support to assist staff when working on their own and out of office hours.
The registered manager had processes for monitoring visits and were using a computer-based monitoring system to monitor whether staff were visiting as planned.
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.
People received support to maintain good nutrition and hydration and their healthcare needs were
understood and met.
People and family members knew how to make a complaint and they were confident that their complaint would be listened to and acted upon quickly.
The service was going through organisational changes and the provider had developed plans to manage and communicate these changes to people and staff. There was a clear vision about the quality of care the provider wanted to provide and there was an open and person-centred culture in the organisation. Staff told us the provider was a considerate employer and staff retention was good.
The provider had identified improvements were required in their quality assurance processes and were working to implement the necessary changes.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (published in 5 January 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.