Beyond Support Limited

Updated 11 May 2022

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

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors 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. Both inspectors visited the service and the Expert by Experience gathered feedback about the service from people and their relatives via the telephone.

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 service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

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

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspection. We also used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 22 October 2021 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, care staff and administrator.

We viewed a range of records including three people’s care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff support and a range of records relating to how the service operated and was managed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found. We looked at the providers policies and procedures.

Updated 11 May 2022

About the service

Beyond Support Ltd is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing the regulated activity personal care to 18 people. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 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

Risks associated with people’s care were assessed and staff understood their responsibilities to keep people safe. However, some care records required further information to provide staff with clearer guidance on how to support people safely.

Some people told us their call times could be better managed, stating they would like a smaller time frame of when to expect staff. People told us they felt safe and had confidence in the staff that supported them. Staff were recruited safely, and medicines were administered as prescribed, by staff trained in medicine management.

Management oversight of the service had improved since our last inspection. A range of quality monitoring systems and processes had been introduced. However, further time was needed for these to fully embed and ensure improvements made were sustained. The provider had a contingency plan in place, to minimise any risks to the service running safely in the event of, for example, adverse weather conditions. Staff felt supported by the management team.

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 21 November 2019) and there was a breach of regulation. 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.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.