Archived: Smart Care Limited

Updated 6 November 2019

The inspection

We carried out this focused 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 Well-led Key Question under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. 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 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 24 hours’ notice of the focused inspection. This was because we wanted to be sure there would be staff in the office to speak with us. The inspection took place on 27 September 2019. The registered manager of this service was away, but another manager from Smart Care was able to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included their action plan and any notifications and safeguarding information we had received. Statutory notifications are information that the service is legally required to tell us about. 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 inspections. We used this information to plan our focused inspection.

During the inspection

This was a focused inspection to check whether specific improvements had taken place about how the service was managed and led. At the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager from another Smart Care service, and with four other staff, including two care staff, about improvements and the management of the service.

We looked at the electronic system used by the service that supported care schedules and enabled a range of care records to be produced effectively. We reviewed the most relevant records which evidenced changes made since the last inspection, including staff supervision and quality checks, meetings, audits and accident and incident reporting. We did not speak to service users as the improvements required had related to governance and organisational matters. We reviewed three care plans describing people’s care and read feedback from people and their families about their good experiences with the service and staff.

Updated 6 November 2019

About the service

Smart Care Limited is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service is for adults of all ages who are living with a physical or a learning disability or with dementia. At the time of this inspection, there were 63 people receiving a personal care service.

Why we inspected

We had previously carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service 20 December 2018. At this time, one breach of legal requirements was found which was Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Good Governance. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met the legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to the Well- Led Key Questions which contain those requirements. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for the other Key Questions were not looked at on this occasion. The overall rating for the service is now Good in every Key Question with no breaches of Regulation.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Smart Care Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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

At the previous inspection, people were experiencing the delivery of good and safe care. This had continued, and we had no new concerns. Since the inspection, the provider had addressed the issues we reported on about missed care calls, quality of care records, monitoring of care staff and reporting accidents and incidents.

People’s care records had been reviewed and provided a comprehensive and person-centred approach that supported good care delivery. Staff had been supported to ensure they always recorded information in a person-centred way. The service received positive feedback from people and their relatives. One family member wrote, “Communication between the agency and ourselves is excellent. The staff are very approachable.”

Care delivery was now scheduled and monitored using an electronic system. This had been embedded into the service since the last inspection. The service was confident about ensuring all care was delivered as expected and there was a backup process for dealing with any emergencies.

People were cared for by staff who were supervised and monitored in a regular and robust way. The provider could demonstrate that care staff were delivering good quality care. Any shortfalls were identified and addressed. Staff were motivated and incentivised to give their best and do what was expected of them.

There was a positive and committed leadership team at the service. Although the registered manager was not present, another manager was able to support staff and demonstrated that all the improvements had been made. Staff spoke highly of the good communication the team and supportive environment they worked within.

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 Good (published 15 April 2019). However, there was a breach of regulation found, regarding the good governance of the service. At this inspection we found improvements had been made. The provider was no longer in breach of the care regulations and the service was well led.

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.