Background to this inspection
Updated
29 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 carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
Age UK Calderdale & Kirklees is registered as a domiciliary care agency. It is registered to provide personal care to older people living in their own homes. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.
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. The inspection activity started on 11 November 2019 and ended on 12 November 2019. We visited the office location on 11 November 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We contacted the local authority safeguarding, commissioning and monitoring team and reviewed all the information we had received since the last inspection. We contacted Healthwatch to see if they had received any information about the provider. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. 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. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager, the Chief Executive Officer, the nominated individual and the member of staff currently providing the foot care service. We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records. We looked at the staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed. We spoke with five people using the service over the telephone for their views about the care provided.
Updated
29 November 2019
About the service
Age UK Calderdale & Kirklees registered in 2018 to provide a domiciliary care service for older people living in Kirklees and Calderdale. This part of the service has not commenced, and the provider had not yet determined when this service would start to operate. However, people were provided with a domiciliary toe nail cutting/foot care service and at the time of inspection this was provided to 29 people. People were visited at intervals of between six and twelve weeks.
People’s experience of using this service
People highly rated the scheme and told us they felt safe with the staff who provided the service, who they described as having the skills for the role.
People were protected from harm as staff and the registered manager were aware of their responsibility to ensure people using the service were safe. Risk was assessed and measures put in place to reduce the likelihood of harm. Information was recorded in care plans and shared with staff.
People were supported by staff with the knowledge and skills to undertake the necessary tasks. Staff were supported by a programme of training set by the provider, and a system for supervision and appraisal was in place.
People reported staff were kind and caring, asked for their consent before providing care and respected their privacy and dignity.
People referred themselves into the service and were fully involved in developing their plan of care which reflected their preferences.
The service was supported by the provider’s head of quality who ensured they met the providers standards in terms of quality. Support was also provided by the national organisation and there was a shared value and vision to improve the lives of older people.
There was very little to audit at the time of this inspection. The registered manager was aware of their responsibility to monitor the quality of the service provided and had an audit in place to measure the service against the CQC key lines of enquiry. There was no date set to commence the regulated part of their domiciliary care service.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection: The service was inspected (published 15 May 2019) but not rated as it was not fully operational.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous inspection outcome.
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.