Blue Arch Homecare

Updated 9 November 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector supported by one 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

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 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, who was also the provider of the service.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service two days’ 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. We also gave time for the registered manager to send us inspection information, so we did not have to spend an extended amount of time in the office of the service.

Inspection activity started on 28 September 2022 and ended on 29 September.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service and we sought feedback from the local authority. The provider sent us a 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with one person who used the service about their experience of the care provided, and five relatives. We also spoke with three care staff members and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included three care records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found, which was sent to us. This included evidence from peoples’ records and management responses to complaints.

Updated 9 November 2022

Blue Arch Homecare is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of inspection, 43 people were receiving personal care.

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 person we spoke with and most relatives we spoke with were satisfied with the care that staff provided and with the management of the service, though two relatives were dissatisfied with some aspects of the service. This included some late calls and not having agreed call times. When we raised the issues of dissatisfaction with the registered manager, the issues were acted on swiftly.

Everyone we spoke with except two relatives, said safe care was provided. If they had any concerns, the registered manager would act on the issues raised and put measures in place to ensure safe care.

People were protected against abuse, neglect and discrimination. People had been largely protected against the risk of infection though the registered manager had to take action to ensure all staff wore full protective equipment.

Details of how to reduce risks to people's safety were included in people's care plans though one risk assessment lacked detail on encouraging a person to eat. Care plans reflected people’s individual needs.

Safe recruitment practices were largely in place to ensure only suitable staff worked at the service, though staff references had not always come from relevant past care employers. Enough staff were employed to meet people's needs. Timely calls were mainly in place to provide personal care. Quality assurance systems were in place to try to ensure people were provided with a quality service though call times and care provided was not always checked.

The registered manager understood their responsibilities and worked in an open and transparent way.

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

Why we inspected

The inspection was prompted by concerns we received that safe care was not being provided to some people. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.