Archived: Cotswolds Link Homecare

Updated 12 August 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.

We undertook a focused inspection of Cotswolds Link Homecare on 17 July 2015. This inspection was completed to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection on 6, 9 and 11 March 2015 had been made. We inspected the service against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well-led. This is because the service was not meeting legal requirements in relation to that question. The inspection was undertaken by one inspector and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure they would be there.

Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included the provider’s action plan, which set out the action they would take to meet legal requirements and notifications submitted by the provider. Providers tell us about important events relating to the service they provide using a notification.

During the visit we spoke with the manager and a representative of the provider and reviewed a notification submitted to us.

Updated 12 August 2015

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 6, 9 and 11 March 2015 at which a breach of legal requirements was found. This was because the registered person had not notified the Commission without delay of abuse or allegations of abuse in relation to people using the service.

After the comprehensive inspection, the provider wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to the breach. We undertook a focused inspection on 16 July 2015 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to this topic. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for ‘Cotswolds Link Homecare’ on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Cotswolds Link Homecare had a registered manager although this person was not in post at the time of our inspection. A new manager had started who was currently applying for registration. 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.

At our focused inspection on 16 July 2015 we found the provider had followed the action plan which they had told us would be completed by 13 May 2015 and legal requirements had been met. Notifications of significant events were being shared with us in line with the requirements of the law.