Background to this inspection
Updated
31 October 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.
The inspection team
This inspection was carried out by 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.
Service and service type
ARC Community Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service had a manager registered with CQC. 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:
The inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we wanted to speak with people using the service and the registered manager. We needed the registered manager to contact people to ask their permission for us to speak with them.
Inspection site visit activity started on 01 October 2019 and ended on 02 October 2019. We spoke with people about the quality of their care and support on 1 October. We visited the office location on 02 October 2019 to see the registered manager and staff; and to review care and management records.
What we did before inspection
We completed our planning tool and reviewed information we had received about the service since registering with CQC. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affected the health, safety and welfare of people supported by the service. We looked at previous inspection reports. We also sought feedback from partner agencies and health and social care professionals. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. 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 in this report.
During the inspection
We spoke with eight people supported by ARC Community Care and two relatives. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager and care staff, also the directors of ARC Community Care.
To gather information, we looked at a variety of records. This included medicines records and sections of two peoples care records. We looked at details of staff training and supervision. We also looked at other management records including audits, surveys and meeting minutes. We did this to ensure the management team had oversight of the service and they could respond to any concerns highlighted or lead in ongoing improvements.
Updated
31 October 2019
About the service
ARC Community Care is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people in their own home. This includes personal care, shopping, activities and appointments to people who live in their own homes. The agency provide support to people with a range of care needs and includes older people, people living with dementia and people with physical disabilities. The office base is located in a residential area of Lytham St Anne’s. At the time of our inspection ARC Community Care provided services to 44 people. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were safe and protected from abuse because staff assessed and managed risk. Staff were recruited safely. People told us staff were reliable and consistently met their care and support needs. People received their medicines as they needed.
People were helped 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. Staff assessed people's capacity to make decisions and supported them with decision making. Staff supported people with meal preparation where needed. They encouraged them to eat and drink enough to keep them in the best health possible. They liaised with health and social care professionals effectively and sought advice quickly if people were ill or injured. Staff had the training, skills and experience to provide good care.
Staff provided care that met people’s different needs and preferences. People and where appropriate, their relatives were involved in planning their care and encouraged to make decisions. People said they were pleased with their care. They told us they were treated respectfully and with consideration to their privacy and dignity.
Staff assessed people’s communication needs and were familiar with the ways people communicated. People said they had no complaints but would be able to discuss any concerns or complaints and felt they would be acted on. Staff understood the importance of supporting people to have a comfortable, pain free and peaceful end of life.
People said staff encouraged them to give their opinions about the service and to make decisions about their care. They told us staff listened to and acted on these. The registered manager worked in partnership with other services and organisations to make sure they followed good practice and people in their care were safe. The management team monitored and audited the service to check on the quality and make sure staff were providing good care. They understood and acted on legal obligations, including conditions of CQC registration and those of other organisations.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
At the last inspection the service was rated good (7 April 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.
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.