Updated 4 January 2024
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 team consisted of 1 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.
The Expert by Experience made telephone calls to people who use the service and their relatives following the office site visit.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
Registered Manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service provides care and support in people’s own homes. We needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 22 November 2023 and ended on 24 November 2023. We visited the office location on 22 November 2023.
What we did before the inspection
We looked at information we held about the service such as notifications we had received from the registered manager. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We sought feedback from the local authority contract monitoring team prior to our visit. 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 all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
During the inspection site visit we looked at a range of documents and records related to people’s care and the management of the service. We viewed 6 people's care and medication records, 2 staff recruitment files and a selection of records used to monitor the quality and safety of the service.
We had discussions with the registered manager and operations director who was also the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service.
After the inspection site visit, we contacted 9 people who used the service and 5 relatives to ask their views on the service provided. We also contacted 6 members of staff.