Gold Crown Care Services Limited

Updated 20 June 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. 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 team consisted of one inspector and one 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. Our expert by experience had previous knowledge and experience of physical and sensory impairments.

Service and service type:

Gold Crown Care Services Ltd is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The agency was supporting 14 people when we carried out the inspection.

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 it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

Inspection site visit activity took place on 14 May 2019 and 16 May 2019. We visited the office location on 14 May 2019 to see the manager and to review care records and policies and procedures. We visited the office on 16 May 2019 to speak with the care staff. Telephone calls were made by our expert by experience on 14 May 2019.

What we did:

Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service, including notifications that the provider had sent us.

We reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders.

During the inspection we spoke with three people using the service, five family members, the registered manager and three members of staff.

We reviewed two people’s care records including their daily records, policies and procedures, records relating to the management of the service, records of accidents and incidents, training records and audits and quality assurance reports. We also examined other records relating to the recruitment of staff and complaints and commendations.

Updated 20 June 2019

About the service: Gold Crown Care Services Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. On the day of our inspection they were providing care for 14 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People were treated to consistently safe care. The provider ensured people received their care as planned and people’s preferences for regular staff to meet their needs was always considered. There were enough staff to keep people safe and meet their needs.

People were always treated with kindness and compassion and staff communicated with them sensitively. Staff paid particular attention to promoting people’s dignity and enabling people to be as independent as possible.

The culture of the service was positive, and person centred. People were at the heart of the service.

People's needs and individual preferences were documented in support plans that were comprehensive. Reviews of people’s care and support were routinely carried out.

Risks to people were assessed and mitigated. Systems and processes safeguarded people from abuse.

People were protected by the prevention and control of infection and their medicines were managed safely. People were supported to eat and drink.

People knew how to make complaints. Managers were available for people and staff to contact them at any time.

Staff were well trained and had regular supervision. Staff told us they felt supported. New staff were recruited using safe procedures and were supported with an induction to the service.

Staff worked well together, and they shared information when necessary and people’s confidentiality was respected.

The service met the characteristics for a rating of “good” in all five of the key questions. Therefore, our overall rating for the service after this inspection was “good”.

Rating at last inspection: GOOD (Report published 01 November 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated good.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk