Updated 16 April 2019
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, 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 an 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, in this case services for older people.
Service and service type:
¿ The service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older people with a range of needs, living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection nine people were being supported by the service.
¿ Not everyone using the service received regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with personal care, which is help with tasks including personal hygiene and maintaining adequate nutrition.
¿ 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 seven days 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.
¿ Inspection activity started on 18 March 2019 with telephone calls to people who use the service.
¿ Inspection site visit activity started and was completed on 19 March 2019. We visited the office location to see the registered manager and office staff, and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did:
¿ Before the inspection the provider sent us a Provider Information Return. Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.
¿ We reviewed information we held about the service, for example, statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law.
¿ During the inspection site visit we spoke with the registered manager and the independent living leader. We also reviewed two people's care plans and medicine records, the provider's overall development plan, the staff rota, staff supervision records, audits, the provider's incident log and the provider’s business continuity plan.
¿ After the inspection we reviewed additional evidence sent to us by the provider including the staff training matrix. We also spoke with two members of care staff.