Spirit Home Care

Updated 30 August 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 was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Spirit Home Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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 it is a small service and 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

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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. This information helps support our inspections. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people using the service and three relatives. We also spoke with the registered manager, a care co-ordinator, a senior carer, and three care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. These included three people’s care records, and records relating to staffing, management and other aspects of the service.

Updated 30 August 2019

The service was well-led by an experienced, capable and caring registered manager. All the people, relatives, and staff we spoke with said the service provided high-quality care and they would recommend it to others. The culture of the service was open and honest and the registered manager and staff approachable. The registered manager monitored the service to ensure it continued to provide high-quality care.

Staff were skilled, knowledgeable and kind. People had regular staff who they got to know well. They told us how friendly and caring the staff were. Staff enjoyed their work and got on well with the people they supported who they valued and treated with dignity.

Staff provided responsive and flexible care to people in line with their preferences and choices. The staff team were multilingual and communicated with people in English and a range of other languages, as required. If people communicated non-verbally staff knew how to engage with them.

People were safe using the service. Staff knew how to protect people from harm and reduce the risk of accidents and incidents. The service was well-staffed to ensure people’s needs were met. Staff supported people with their medicines and this was done safely. Staff understood how to prevent and control the spread of infection.

People were assessed before using the service to ensure their needs could be met. Assessments addressed people’s physical and mental health needs, their cultural and language needs, and what was important to them. Staff worked with GPs, district nurses, and others to ensure people’s healthcare needs were met.

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.