Updated 20 September 2019
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 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.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats, some of who may be living with dementia.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that 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 gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 8 July 2019 and ended on 9 July 2019. We visited the office location on both dates.
What we did before the inspection
We used the information the provider sent us in the 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 reviewed the provider’s website and other information we held about the service. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with seven people who used the service and four family members by phone. We spoke with the registered manager, the care manager, the business manager and three staff members. We looked at the care records of four people. We looked at four staff records, including training and recruitment records. We looked at other records to do with the management of the service.
After the inspection
We reviewed further documents to do with the running of the service to validate evidence found.