Kentish Homecare

Updated 4 April 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. 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

One inspector visited the service on 27 and 28 February 2020. Two experts by experience made phone calls to people to seek their views about the service. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Their area of expertise is in older people and a family carer.

Service and service type

Kentish Homecare Agency Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people living in own homes and flats. It mainly supports older people.

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 visit because the manager was often out of the office supporting staff. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the service. This information included the statutory notifications that the service sent to the Care Quality Commission. A notification is information about important events that the service is required to send us by law. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We also contacted the commissioners and the local authority safeguarding team for their feedback about the service.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, 10 staff members, 10 people and six relatives to seek their views about the service. We looked at seven people’s care records, six staff records, and records related to the management of the service, such as the complaints, accidents and incidents, medicines management, safeguarding, call monitoring and policies and procedures.

Updated 4 April 2020

About the service:

Kentish Homecare Agency Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. At the time of the inspection 63 people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

People and their relatives gave us positive feedback about their safety and told us staff treated them well. Staff administered prescribed medicines to people safely and people were protected from the risk of infection. People were supported by effectively deployed staff and their visits were monitored. The provider carried out comprehensive background checks of staff before they started work. The provider had a system to manage accidents and incidents.

Staff received support through training, supervision and appraisal to ensure they could meet people’s needs. Staff told us they felt supported and could approach the registered manager at any time for support. The registered manager worked within the principles of Mental Capacity Act (MCA). Staff asked for people’s consent, where they had the capacity to consent to their care. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

An assessment of people’s needs had been completed to ensure these could be met by staff. The registered manager and staff worked with other external professionals to ensure people were supported to maintain good health. People and their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care and support. People were treated with dignity, and their privacy was respected, and supported to be as independent in their care as possible.

People’s care plans reflected their current needs. Staff showed an understanding of equality and diversity. Staff respected people’s choices and preferences. People knew how to make a complaint. The registered manager knew what to do if someone required end-of life care.

Systems and processes to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service were in place. There was a management structure at the service and staff were aware of the roles of the management team. They told us the registered manager was approachable. The registered manager and staff worked as a team and in partnership with a range of professionals and acted on their advice.

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 02 September 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.