Allfor Care

Updated 29 November 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by 1 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.

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

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 29 May 2023 and ended on 28 June 2023. We visited the location’s office on 31 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we looked at records we held about the service. These included notifications the provider had sent us to report incidents, and information received from commissioning local authorities and other professionals. 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

We spoke with 5 office- based staff members including the registered manager, care co-ordinator, office manager, administrator and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We received feedback from 3 people, 7 relatives and 6 care workers.

We reviewed a range of records including the care records for 10 people and 7 medicines records. We reviewed 9 staff records. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service including quality assurance audits and policies and procedures.

Updated 29 November 2023

About the service

Allfor Care is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people living in their own homes. The service was supporting 99 people at the time of our inspection.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Staff had been recruited safely. They underwent appropriate checks before starting work at the service, including reference and criminal records checks. There were sufficient care staff rostered to ensure people’s needs were met. The provider monitored people’s care calls and we saw recorded evidence that lateness was discussed with the relevant staff members.

The provider had carried out person centred risk assessments for people and we saw these were regularly reviewed. People’s risk assessments were linked to their care plans which included guidance for care staff on reducing identified risks.

People’s medicines were managed appropriately. Staff administering medicines had received relevant training. People’s medicines administration records were audited regularly.

Staff had received training to ensure that people were safe. For example, training on safeguarding and infection prevention and control. Staff, people and family members told us personal protective equipment to carry out their tasks safely. People said that they felt safe with the care they received.

The provider had made improvements to their quality assurance processes since our last inspection. Systems had been put in place for monitoring of care calls and auditing of people’s care records and staff files.

People were asked for their views about the service on a monthly basis. The provider maintained a record of actions taken in relation to issues and concerns people had raised.

People and family members told us they received safe and effective care from staff. Staff members said they felt supported by the provider and received the information and support they required to do their work effectively.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 23 October 2021) and there was in breach of regulation 17 (good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. There were no systems in place for monitoring care calls, care records, and staff risk assessments. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At our last inspection we recommended that the provider carried out regular reviews of risk management plans in relation to staff. We also recommended the provider carried out regular audits of staff files, including agency staff records. At this inspection we found the provider acted on these recommendations and improvements had been made.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced focused inspection of this service on 23 October 2021. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Allfor Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.