Silver Service Carers Ltd

Updated 25 March 2020

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 team comprised of one inspector.

Service and service type

Silver Service Carers Ltd is a domiciliary care provider. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they are 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. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We made calls to people who used the service or where they could not speak with us, their close relatives.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 spoke with two people who used the service and two relatives of people using the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered manager, senior carer and two care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment, and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We spoke with one health care professional who worked with the service.

Updated 25 March 2020

About the service

Silver Service Carers Ltd is a Domiciliary Care provider, providing personal care to people in their homes. 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. At the time of the inspection there were ten people receiving care regulated by CQC.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People received safe care. People and their relatives told us they or their relative felt safe when receiving care and support. Staff were aware of measures to take to prevent and control the spread of infection. There was a procedure to record, monitor and investigate any accidents/incidents which may occur. People were promoted to take, or staff administered people’s medicines safely.

There were risk assessments in place to assess people’s needs and environmental safety and checks were in place to ensure staff and people were safe from harm. Staffing levels were adequate and safe recruitment procedures were followed to ensure suitable staff were employed. People told us they felt staff were well trained.

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. Staff were trained to support people with their individual needs. People's nutritional needs were supported and people’s healthcare needs were monitored to ensure these were met.

People were treated with kindness, respect and staff involved them in decisions about their care. People knew about the complaints process and knew the process to follow if they had concerns. Care plans were well detailed and specified the care people required.

The service was well led. People and their relatives had the opportunity to give regular feedback and make suggestions to improve the service. Staff felt well supported by the management team. Relatives told us the registered manager was open and receptive to comments.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was rated as Requires Improvement. (Published 22 March 2019) and there was a breach of Regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Act 2014. This was challenged at the time by the registered manager who disagreed with our findings.

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 significant improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

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.