Peak Home Care Ltd

Updated 17 April 2019

The inspection:

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:

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type:

Peak Home Care is a domiciliary care agency, providing care and support to people in their own homes. They provide care to predominantly older people, including people living with dementia, physical disabilities and mental health needs.

The service had a manager registered with Care Quality Commission. However, they were not at the service at the time of our inspection and we were informed by the provider they had resigned and would officially finish in May 2019. The provider had appointed an acting manager who was taking responsibility for the day to day management with support from the nominated individual. The provider told us they had made future arrangements for the management of the service and would ensure a new manager would register with CQC.

Notice of inspection:

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection because we wanted to ensure the manager would be available. We also wanted to arrange to visit some people using the service in their own homes.

Inspection site visit activity started on 22 March 2019 and ended on 28 March 2019.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection visit we gathered information from a number of sources. We also looked at the information received about the service from notifications sent to the CQC by the registered provider. We requested the provider to complete a provider information return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The acting manager had completed a PIR prior to our inspection and we used this information to assist with planning the inspection.

We visited one person in their home. We discussed their care plan and observed staff interactions. We spoke with a further ten people over the telephone to obtain their feedback. We also spoke with six relatives on the telephone.

We spoke with fifteen staff including two care coordinators, a rota coordinator, recruitment coordinator, training coordinator, eight care staff, the acting manager, the nominated individual and the provider. We looked at documentation relating to three people who used the service, two staff files and information relating to the management of the service. We also received feedback in writing from two commissioners.

Updated 17 April 2019

About the service:

Peak Home Care is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people in their own homes in the community. The service provides support to predominantly older people, including people living with dementia, mental health needs and physical disabilities.

At the time of our inspection 124 people were using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

People told us they were safe. The providers processes and practices protected people from abuse. There were enough staff to ensure people’s needs were met. However, one person that was supported to access the community was not always getting these hours due to staff shortages, this was being addressed by the provider.

Recruitment procedures followed safe practices. Staff were given time to provide care and support that was unrushed. People’s medicines were managed safely, however, some minor improvements were made following our inspection.

Risks were identified and managed well. Incidents and accidents were monitored to inform practice and make improvements to the service. People were protected by the prevention and control of infection.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Peoples nutritional needs were met. People who required support with their diet had their needs met by staff that understood their dietary requirements. Staff had received the training and support they needed to carry out their roles well. People had confidence in the staff and were happy with the care they received.

People spoke positively about the care and support they received. Everyone we spoke with said staff were very respectful of people’s privacy and dignity and promoted independence where ever possible. One person described their care worker as being. “Excellent and patient, one in a million.”

People received personalised care that was responsive to their needs. Care plan information focused on a person-centred method of supporting people. Information contained what support was required. The care and support plans included people’s decisions and choices. People were supported appropriately at the end of their lives.

There was a complaints procedure available which enabled people to raise any concerns or complaints about the care or support they received. The registered manager kept detailed records of concerns that evidenced any issues were actioned promptly and satisfactorily.

People told us they were listened to and had opportunity to raise concerns if required. Everyone we spoke with was clear about how to raise a complaint. Most people said when they raised concerns they were addressed promptly.

People’s feedback was used to make changes to the service.

The nominated individual and the acting manager conducted a range of audits in areas such as, medicine management, health and safety, care plans and daily records documentation. We saw the monitoring identified areas for improvement and any actions raised as part of the audits were addressed.

More information is in the detailed report.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection the service was rated good. (28/5/2016)

Why we inspected:

This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous ratings.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk