Compleat Care (UK) Limited

Updated 27 July 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 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

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 (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 28 February 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and two relatives, to learn about their experiences of the service provided. We spoke with three care staff, the rota co-ordinator and the registered manager. We also spoke with two health and social care professionals who knew the service.

We reviewed a selection of care records for three people including medicine administration records, care plans, risk assessments, daily notes and incident forms. We reviewed three staff files and records relating to training, recruitment, performance management and support.

We reviewed a selection of records relating to the management and quality monitoring of the service. These included complaint management, accident and incident monitoring, quality audits, meeting minutes and provider oversight. We also reviewed a selection of policies and procedures.

Updated 27 July 2022

About the service

Homecare Helpline is a domiciliary care agency providing the regulated activity 'personal care' to people who live in their own homes in Sleaford, Stamford, Grantham and surrounding villages. At the time of the inspection, there were 43 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

There was an effective safeguarding system in place and staff had good knowledge about how to keep people safe. People using the service and their relatives told us they felt comfortable raising concerns.

The registered manager and the care team went above and beyond to ensure people’s safety in emergency situations. Care staff had excellent knowledge about the people they supported and understood how to provide safe and effective care.

Safe and effective recruitment processes were in place to ensure suitable staff were employed. Staff were trained and had good knowledge on safe administrations of medicines. Care plans and medicine records were clear, and administrations were thoroughly recorded. People were protected against the risks of infectious diseases including COVID-19.

The atmosphere at the registered office location was pleasant and relaxed. People using the service and their relatives told us care staff were always friendly and polite.

All staff had clearly defined roles and worked as a supportive team. Robust and effective quality assurance processes were in place to ensure a high standard of care and support. Assessments were competed with people new to the service and care was tailored to meet people’s individual needs. Incident logs were completed to ensure any unforeseen circumstances or changes in day to day operations were well recorded and informed practice.

The registered manager and the care team worked in partnership with other health and social care professionals. Information shared by external health and social care professionals was used to inform people’s care. Feedback from external professionals about the service was very positive.

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 7 March 2019).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services which have had a recent Direct Monitoring Approach (DMA) assessment where no further action was needed to seek assurance about this decision and to identify learning about the DMA process.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.