Sherwood Prime Care Ltd

Updated 12 December 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 inspection took place on 11 October 2018. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of our inspection. We completed a comprehensive inspection. The inspection team consisted of two inspectors and an ‘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. For this inspection, our ‘expert by experience’ was an expert for people who had a physical or sensory disability. The expert by experience was responsible for making phone calls to people and relatives who used the service, to gather feedback about the service offered.

Before the inspection visit, we gathered information known about the service. We considered notifications the provider had sent to us. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We also considered any information received from the public and professionals.

Before the inspection we requested the provider submits a Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR asks the provider to give key information about their service, how they are meeting the five questions and what improvements they plan to make. We received this PIR as requested.

We also contacted the local authority commissioners of the service and Healthwatch Nottinghamshire to obtain their views about the care provided in the home. Neither had been involved with the service, so declined to comment.

On the 11 October 2018 we visited the providers office base. We spoke with the Responsible Individual, who was also the owner of the business. We also spoke with the registered manager, five care staff, a care co-ordinator, and the Recruitment and Training Co-ordinator. We looked at the relevant parts of the care records of five people who used the service. We looked at staff recruitment files and other records relating to the management of the home. These included audits, policies and incident records.

On the 23 and 24 October the ‘expert by experience’ made phone calls to people and relatives who are using the service or had used it since out last inspection. The expert by experience spoke to five people using the service and 14 relatives

Updated 12 December 2018

We inspected the service on 11 October 2018. The provider was given 48 hours' notice of the inspection. We gave notice because this is a small service where staff are often out of the office during the day and we needed to make sure that the registered manager would be available to meet us.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to adults living in their own houses and flats in the community. The service is registered to support; older people, people with physical disability, people with sensory impairment and younger adults.

Not everyone using Sherwood Prime Care ltd receives a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. We would also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection it was confirmed that 52 people using the service received 'personal care’.

There was a registered manager in post. 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 service was safe. Staff had good knowledge of safeguarding procedures and how to keep people safe. Risks were thoroughly assessed and incidents responded to effectively. We found that recruitment was safely managed and there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. Staff followed infection control procedures. We found medicines required some improved written recording, the registered manager had begun to action this by the end of the inspection day.

The service was effective at meeting people’s needs. Care plans allowed people’s needs to be effectively met. Staff had received training specific to the people they supported. The service effectively supported people with multiple complex health conditions by close involvement with health and social care professionals. People’s dietary needs were assessed and supported effectively. We found that staff had a good knowledge of consent. However, some written capacity assessments (mental capacity act) required further improvement. The registered manager had begun improving this by the end of the inspection day.

The service was exceptionally caring. During the inspection day we saw evidence of multiple caring interactions. We felt that the service had gone “above and beyond” with its support of people using the service. Of the 19 people we spoke to, they all reported very caring staff.

The service was responsive at meeting people’s changing needs. People reported that they had a choice in how care was delivered and this could be adapted easily for them. We found that people were encouraged to report concerns and complaints and these had been responded to fully and openly. At the time of our inspection, no one was receiving end of life care. However, we saw evidence that end of life care had been supported effectively in the past.

The service was well led. The high quality of management support had impacted on the quality of the care provided. The Sherwood mission statement was “High quality care and happy staff”. Our inspection found this was highly accurate. People’s care needs were well met, and staff were well supported in their roles. People were encouraged to feedback to the service and the registered manager and provider worked together closely to sustain improvements.