Aquarius Home Care

Updated 2 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:

• The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

• Aquarius Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in the Southampton area. The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission however an application had been received by the Commission and this was in progress. A manager registered with the Commission is 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 visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be available to talk with us.

What we did:

Before during and following the inspection:

• We reviewed information we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We did not ask the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) before our inspection. 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.

• Inspection site visit activity started on 6 March 2019. We visited the office location on 6 March 2019 to speak with the nominated individual and manager.

• We reviewed care records and risk assessments for three people.

• Reviewed staff recruitment, training and supervision records for four staff.

• We looked at records of accidents, incidents, complaints and compliments.

• We also reviewed audits, quality assurance reports and surveys.

• We spoke with the nominated individual, manager and three care staff.

• We visited and spoke with two people and their relatives in their own homes.

• On the 7 March 2019 we visited and spoke with one person using the service and their relatives. We also telephoned and spoke with three members of care staff.

Updated 2 April 2019

About the service:

• Aquarius Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care provider and provides care and support in people’s own homes. At the time of this inspection three people were receiving personal care from the service. The service is registered to support older people, some of who may be living with dementia and people with physical disabilities.

• Not everyone using the service received 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.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People and their relatives told us care staff delivered safe care and support.

• Staff understood how to raise concerns both within and outside of the service should they need to. People and staff felt they were listened to and that their ideas and any concerns they may have were addressed.

• People received their medicines safely.

• Staff knew people well and provided support in the way people wanted.

• Observations by the management team of staff practice ensured staff were competent in their roles.

• People were involved in decisions about their care. Staff sought appropriate consent and asked people what help they needed.

• People received care that respected their privacy and dignity as well as promoting their independence wherever possible.

• The service was well-led by a management team who demonstrated compassion and commitment to the needs of the people who used the service as well as the staff who worked for them.

More information is in Detailed Findings below.

Rating at last inspection. Not rated:

• At our inspection in June 2018 the service only provided personal care and support for one person and we did not have enough information to rate the service. At this inspection the service provided care and support to three people and we were able to obtain the experiences of a sufficient number of people using the service to give a rating to each of the five questions and an overall rating for the service.

Why we inspected:

• This was a planned, announced comprehensive inspection as part of our inspection schedule methodology for services.

Follow up:

• We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated as Good.