Updated 11 January 2020
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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team:
The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is someone who has personal experience and knowledge of care services. Their role was to speak with people who used the service and their relatives to obtain feedback about the care being provided.
Service and service type:
Safe Hands Care and Support Services is a ‘domiciliary care service’ It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means 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 carried out this inspection on 25 and 26 November 2019.
The inspection was announced on 22 November 2019 to ensure the inspection could be facilitated by the registered manager at the location office.
What we did:
Prior to the inspection we reviewed information and evidence we already held about this service, which had been collected via our ongoing monitoring of care services. This included notifications sent to us by the service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay.
We also viewed the provider information return (PIR). 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 contacted various local authorities for feedback about the service in advance of our inspection.
The first day of the inspection consisted of speaking with people who used the service and their families about the care and support they received. The second day of the inspection was spent at the main office reviewing records such as care plans, staff files, supervision/appraisal records, complaints and quality assurance documentation.
During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, nominated individual, operations manager, five care staff, nine people who used the service and seven relatives. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
Documentation reviewed included six care plans, three staff personnel files, six medicine administration records (MAR) and other records about the management of the service to help inform our inspection judgements.