Updated 4 January 2018
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.
This inspection took place on 7 November 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community.
The inspection team consisted of one adult social care 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. The expert by experience on this occasion had experience in caring for older people and people who use regulated services.
Prior to the inspection visit, we reviewed all the information we had about the service including statutory notifications and other intelligence. We also contacted the local authority commissioning and contracts department, safeguarding, the fire and police service, the Clinical Commissioning Group and Healthwatch to assist us in planning the inspection. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We reviewed all the information we had been provided with from third parties to fully inform our approach to inspecting this service.
The home was previously inspected during July 2016 and was found to be good overall with a breach of regulation in relation to the management of people’s medicines. During this inspection, we checked to see whether improvements had been made. Improvements were evident and we identified no breaches of regulations during this inspection.
During the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager, who was also the nominated individual and one member of care staff. In the days following the inspection we spoke on the telephone with six people who use the service, three relatives of people who used the service and two members of care staff.
During our visit we spent time looking at four people’s care plans and three records relating to staff recruitment and training. We reviewed various documents relating to the service’s quality assurance systems and spent time speaking with the registered manager.