Background to this inspection
Updated
20 September 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. 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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. CQC regulates the personal care provided.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) who was also the provider. 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 48 hours' notice of the inspection because we needed to be sure staff would be available and we would have access to records.
Inspection activity started on 15 August 2019 and ended on 22 August 2019. We visited the office location on 15 August 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We used information the provider sent to us in the Provider Information return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send to us at least once annually to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at information we held about the service, including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also looked at other information sent to us from other stakeholders, for example, the local authority and members of the public.
During the inspection
We spoke with four care staff members including two senior care staff, operations manager and office manager. We sampled care documentation for three people using the service including medicine records and daily notes. We also looked at three staff files, staff training and monitoring of staffs caring practices along with other documents related to the management of the service. These included records associated with quality checks audits and staff duty rotas.
After the inspection
Following our inspection visit we spoke with six people who used the service and 11 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with the registered manager and continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at a range of information including staff training planner, business improvement plans, a range of audits and staff newsletters.
Updated
20 September 2019
About the service
Midland Care Support & Enablement Limited is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people in their own homes. Not everyone using the service receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection, 76 people were using the service.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People benefitted from receiving care and support from staff who approached their work with kindness and compassion, and treated people with dignity and respect.
People had comprehensive assessments, care plans and risk assessments which included information about their care and support needs and preferences. Staff were provided with ongoing training to meet people’s diverse needs and understood people's individual needs.
People were supported by staff who had the knowledge to protect them from potential abuse as they knew how to recognise different forms of abuse and how to report this.
Prospective staff underwent pre-employment checks to ensure they were suitable to provide care and support to people who used the service. People were supported by a small team of staff who knew them well and had undertaken an induction to help them understand and feel confident in their caring roles.
People's needs, and wishes were assessed alongside their representatives before their care and support started and; then kept under regular review. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Staff and the management team worked with a range of community health and social care professionals to achieve positive outcomes for people. The provider had processes to support people where required with their medicines. People would only require support to take their medicines if this was part of their care service.
People had encouragement and support to carry on with the things they enjoyed doing in line with their support plans. Where required staff also supported and encouraged people to have enough to eat and drink.
People were supported by their relatives who knew how to raise any concerns or complaints with the provider. The registered manager used concerns and or complaints to make improvements to people’s care experiences.
The provider had processes to monitor and improve the quality of the service, there was a culture of openness and of reflection and learning.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.