Updated 22 May 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 team consisted of one adult social care inspector and an expert by 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:
This service is a domiciliary care agency providing a reablement service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. The service also provides support to people living temporarily in two apartments based in an extra care scheme. People using the service usually receive a time-limited package of care of around six weeks duration. The service predominantly provides support to older adults who have recently been discharged from hospital.
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 4 days’ notice of the inspection site visit. This was to enable the registered manager to contact people to ask if they would be happy for the expert by experience to contact them by phone. It also allowed us to check someone would be available at the office to facilitate the inspection.
Inspection site visit activity started on 09 April 2019 and ended on 10 April 2019. We visited the office location on 09 April 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. On 10 April, we made phone calls to staff working for the service and provided feedback from the inspection to the registered manager.
What we did:
Prior to the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included the previous inspection report. We had not received any feedback about the service or statutory notifications from the service since our last inspection. Statutory notifications are information that services are required to send to CQC about significant events such as deaths and serious injuries.
On this occasion we did not request the provider to complete a provider information return. 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
During the inspection we visited the office to review records relating to people’s care and how the service was run. This included four care plans, daily records of care, training and supervision records, minutes from meetings, accident/incident records and quality assurance records.
We spoke with six people using the service and eight people’s relatives by phone. During the site visit to the service’s office we spoke with the registered manager and one team leader. In addition, we spoke with four care staff by phone.
We contacted professionals with recent experience working with the service for feedback. Two professionals provided feedback, which was positive. The local authority quality monitoring team told us they did not maintain oversight of local authority provided services.