South Western Care Services

Updated 13 November 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.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector and one expert by experience with experience of supporting older people.

Service and service type

South Western Care Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in and around Helston in the South West of Cornwall.

The service is provided by an individual and as such is not required to have a registered manager. However, since our last inspection a registered manger had been appointed as the provider was no longer managing the day to day operations of the service. Registered managers like providers are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced in accordance with our current methodology for the inspection of home care services.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included notification about significant event that had occurred. We used this information and the findings of our previous inspection visits to plan this 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 visited one person and their relatives at home and spoke with a further five people and six relatives via telephone. We also met and spoke with three members of care staff and the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records. We also looked at six staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed, including policies, procedures, medicines administration records, staff rotas and the service’s training matrix.

After the inspection

Following the inspection, we spoke with an additional four members of staff by telephone and sought feedback on the service’s performance from two health and social care professionals. We also reviewed a range of documents that we had requested from the service during the inspection.

Updated 13 November 2019

About the service

South Western Care Services is a care agency which provides short visits to support people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting approximately 40 older 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

The service ‘s recruitment practices were safe and there were enough staff available to provide all planned care visits. Since our last inspection managers had introduced a new weekend rota to enable people’s needs to be met by a reduced number of staff. People were informed of these arrangements before they joined the service. We have recommended the service reviews these arrangements with the aim of improving the consistency of people’s planned visit times.

Staff used a digital call monitoring system to record their arrival and departure times from each planned care visit. This data was monitored by office staff to ensure all planned visit were provided. No-one reported having recently experienced a missed care visit and staff told us, “There have not been any missed visits that I know of.”

Call monitoring records showed most people received their visits on time and people told us the service’s performance in this area had improved. Comments from people and staff in relation to visit times included, “They are always on time", "The timing has got better" and “The rotas are fine, I don’t have to rush.” We found the service’s rotas were well organised and included appropriate amounts of travel time between care visit.

Staff had received safeguarding training and understood how to protect people from all forms of abuse or discrimination. Risks were assessed and the service had made timely, appropriate referral to professionals for additional support where issues of possible self-neglect had been identified.

Staff had the skills necessary to meet people’s needs and there were appropriate procedures in place for the induction of new members of staff. Staff told us there were well supported and records showed they received regular supervision, spot checks and annual performance appraisals. In addition, team meetings were held regularly and included on staff rotas.

Staff supported people to maintain their independence and respected people’s decisions and choices. Manager and staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act and worked with relatives to ensure any decisions made on behalf of people who lacked capacity were made in their best interest.

People described their support staff as jovial, caring and friendly; and professionals told us staff went, “the extra mile” to ensure people needs were met. Comments from people and in relation to the staff team included, “They show lots of patience", "They are all very friendly" and "They chat with me and the staff listen to me."

People’s care plans were accurate and informative. They provided staff with enough guidance to meet people’s needs. This included information about the person’s background and life history and details of the tasks people were normally able to do for themselves. This helped staff to get to know people and recognise any changes in their individual needs.

The service had appropriate quality assurance systems in place and records showed all complaints received had been investigated and resolved. Feedback questionnaires were completed regularly and people’s comments on the service’s current performance were positive.

A registered manager had been appointed since our last inspection and the provider was no longer leading the service. Staff told us the service’s leadership team were effective and professionals were also complimentary of the service’s management.

Rating at the last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires improvement. (Report published 21 March 2019) and there was a breach of the regulations in relation to staff recruitment checks. That responsive inspection was carried out to follow up on actions we told the provider to take following previous comprehensive inspection report published on 19 October 2018. Improvements identified in March 2019 inspection report have been sustained and the service has now been rated good in all areas.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.