Archived: Community Careline Services

Updated 12 May 2016

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 inspection took place on 8 and 10 March and was announced.

The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be available.

The inspection team consisted of two inspectors. Before the inspection we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the home, what the home does well and improvements they plan to make.

We also looked at notifications about important events that had taken place at the service. A notification is information about important events which the home is required to send us by law.

We spoke with the registered manager, the nominated individual, the assistant manager and five staff members at the time of inspection. We also spoke to three people who used the service and three relatives of people who used the service after the inspection.

We spent time looking at five people’s care records and four staff records together with their training plans and records. We also looked at policies and procedures, complaints, accident and incident recordings and quality assurance audits.

This was the first comprehensive ratings inspection for this service since it completed a new registration with CQC on 2 July 2013.

Updated 12 May 2016

We inspected the service on 8 and 10 March 2016. The inspection was announced.

Community Careline Services is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. They provided services to any people who needed care and support, including children. There were 66 people receiving support to meet their personal care needs on the days we inspected.

There was a registered manager at the service. 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.

The providers of the service were fully involved in the day to day running of the service. The providers and registered manager supported the assistant manager and senior carers who in turn supported the care staff. A sound administration staff structure was in place to enhance the support offered and to use time efficiently for the benefit of people using the service.

People who used the service and their family members said they felt safe with the staff. The staff had a good understanding of how to safeguard vulnerable adults and children from abuse. They knew what signs to look out for and what their responsibilities were in reporting any suspicions they had of abuse.

The registered manager had processes in place to make sure that any risks to individual people had been considered and assessed carefully. However, the risk assessments were careful not to intrude on people’s independence. Potential risks to staff when visiting people’s homes had also been assessed and control measures put in place.

The provider followed safe recruitment procedures to ensure the staff they employed were suitable people to carry out their role. Enough staff were available to be able to run an effective service, responsive to people’s needs. Staff had the training and supervision required to be able to perform well in their role. Their personal development needs were identified and supported within a supervision and annual appraisal system.

People and their family members had good things to say about the staff, describing them as ‘lovely’ and a ‘brilliant team’. The registered manager made sure that people had regular staff to support them. Staff knew the people they supported well so were able to give them good care in the way the person preferred. Staff knew how important it was to treat people with dignity and respect, and gave examples of this. Confidentiality and maintaining people’s independence was a key theme within the care plans.

People and their family members were involved in the care planning process, beginning with the initial assessment, through to writing care plans and review. People were able to make their own choices and decisions throughout the care planning and could change things if and when they wished.

A complaints process was in place that worked well. The organisation responded to complaints within a timescale in line with their complaints procedure. People and their family members knew how to make a complaint and had given examples of informal complaints made on the telephone that had been responded to quickly.

Sound auditing systems and processes were in place to check the quality and safety of the service provided. This included people and /or their family members being asked their views of the service to help the registered manager measure the quality of the service being provided.

People and family members we spoke to thought the service was well run.

The staff were very happy with the management team and felt they were well supported. They described the providers and managers as approachable and always available and happy to listen. They said they would have no problems in raising concerns with any of the management team and thought they would always take action. Staff meetings were regular, keeping staff up to date and aiding communication and learning.