Brancaster Home Care

Updated 16 August 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This comprehensive inspection took place on 18 and 25 July 2018 and was announced. The team consisted of one adult social care inspector. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

Before the inspection, we asked the registered provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the registered provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We reviewed the completed PIR and previous inspection reports before the inspection. We checked the information that we held about the service and the service provider.

Before the inspection we gathered information from a number of sources and reviewed the information we held about the service, such as notifications we had received from the registered provider. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. We planned the inspection using this information. Questionnaires were sent out to people who used the service, their relatives/friends and to community professionals.

During the inspection we reviewed a range of records about people’s care and how the domiciliary care agency was managed. These included care records for five people who used the service and medicines records. We looked at quality assurance checks being done and findings from questionnaires that the provider had sent to people to see how the registered provider monitored the quality and safety of the service. We also looked at records and procedures relating to compliments and complaints. We looked at four staff recruitment files and the training matrix and training records.

We spoke with four people who received a service from Brancaster Home Care by telephone and one via email and spoke with three relatives. We visited two people in their homes, having first obtained their permission and spoke with them and checked the agency records kept by them. Whilst visiting the agency office we spoke with the registered manager and the nominated individual and three care workers.

We used a planning tool to collate all this evidence and information prior to visiting the agency.

Updated 16 August 2018

This inspection of Brancaster Home Care Limited took place on 18 July and 25 July 2018 and was announced. We visited the agency office on the first day to speak with the registered manager, nominated individual and staff. We also visited people in their homes. On the second day we contacted people who used the agency by telephone and email to ask their experiences of the service.

Brancaster Home care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Services provided for adults include personal care and bathing, a night service, supervision of medication, meal preparation, cleaning and laundry services, shopping, companionship and support to go out. The offices are situated in Kendal and are open usual office hours with an on-call service outside of office hours.

Not everyone using the service receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with personal care; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of this inspection 34 people were using the agency and 18 were receiving the regulated activity.

At our last inspection in August 2015 we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

There was an experienced registered manager at the service who was present throughout the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People told us they felt safe whilst receiving support from staff at the agency and felt it was “reliable and “attentive”. People had been involved in planning their care and were able to tell staff on a daily basis how they wanted their care delivered.

People told us that staff were caring and supported them in the way they wanted. People we spoke with who used the agency told us they were supported by regular staff who had got to know them well. Staff had received the training and support they needed to be able to carry out their roles.

Staff had received training on the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and they supported people to have maximum choice and control of their lives and support them in the least restrictive way possible. People were asked for their consent before care was provided and the decisions they made were respected. People told us they had been fully involved in the development and reviews of their care.

Staff told us they felt supported in their role and could seek advice and help from the management team at any time of the day. There were systems in places for staff to feedback any concerns or changes in care needs to the registered manager.

People received the right level of support they needed to take their medicines safely. Staff had received training in safe medicine administration and were able to give medicines to people when needed.

People were supported to eat meals of their choice and staff understood the importance of people having a nutritional diet.

People and their relatives were aware of how to raise concerns or complaints. They said they had been asked for their opinions and views during reviews and in surveys and if they were happy with the services they received.

There were processes in place to monitor quality and understand the experiences of people who used the agency. People and their relatives were happy with how the service was managed. People told us they would happily recommend the service.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.