Background to this inspection
Updated
31 March 2021
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 was carried out by one inspector. Following the inspection, one expert by experience telephoned people who received care from the service and relatives to obtain feedback about their 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.
Service and service type:
24/7 Assured Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency which is registered to provide personal care and support to people living in their own home.
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 visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.
What we did:
Before the inspection visit, we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included information about incidents the provider must notify us of, such as any allegations of abuse.
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service
and made the judgements in this report.
We also reviewed the last inspection report and information we had received about improvements made.
During the inspection
We visited the office location on 2 March 2021 to see the registered manager and review a range of records which included care records and staff files in relation to recruitment.
After the inspection
One expert by experience telephoned people who received care from the service and relatives after the inspection. The expert spoke with two people and five relatives about their experiences of the service. The inspector spoke with four care workers. The inspector also had contact with one care professional who had worked closely with the provider.
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at care plans and medication records, punctuality and attendance records, policies and quality assurance records.
Updated
31 March 2021
About the service:
24/7 Assured Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency which provides care to people in their homes. At the time of our inspection the service provided some form of support to a total of 38 people, of which 9 people received personal care support. The Care Quality Commission (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:
People who received care from the service told us they were well supported by care workers. This was confirmed by relatives we spoke with. They told us people were safe when they were cared for by care workers. There were systems in place to safeguard people from the risk of possible harm. Staff we spoke with understood their responsibilities with regards to safeguarding people. Safe recruitment procedures were in place.
Our previous inspection found the monitoring system for punctuality and attendance was ineffective. However, during this focused inspection we observed that the service had implemented an electronic monitoring system. This enabled the registered manager to continuously monitor staff punctuality and attendance. Feedback obtained indicated that there were no issues with care worker’s punctuality and attendance.
Appropriate risk assessments were in place and covered areas such as the environment, mobility, seizures and diabetes.
Our previous inspection found people did not always receive personalised care. Care plans failed to include detailed guidance about people’s needs and the support they required. During this focused inspection we found the service had taken appropriate action to address this and had implemented new format care plans. These were person-centred and included clear information about what people’s needs were and what support they required.
Medicines were managed safely. Administration of medicines were recorded electronically.
People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the registered manager and felt able to raise concerns and were confident that these would be addressed. Procedures were in place to respond to complaints.
Our previous inspection found that there were some instances where the service failed to effectively check various aspects of the service and we found a breach of regulation. During this focused inspection, we observed that the service had made improvements and had an effective system in place to monitor the quality of the service and enable learning and improvement.
More information is in the full report.
Rating at last inspection:
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 13 May 2019).
Why we inspected
We previously carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service in February 2019. One breach of legal requirement was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve governance.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Responsive and Well-led.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for the key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.