Archived: SENAD Community Limited - Coventry

Updated 13 December 2016

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 was 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.

The inspection visit took place on 16 September 2016 and was announced. We gave the registered manager 48 hours’ notice that we would be coming, so they could ensure support workers would be available to speak with us. The inspection was conducted by one inspector.

We reviewed information received about the service, for example the statutory notifications the provider had sent us. A statutory notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send to us by law. Before the inspection the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We found the PIR reflected the service provided. We also contacted local authority commissioners to find out their views of the service. These are people who contract care and support services paid for by the local authority. They had no concerns about the service.

We spoke with three people who used the service and one relative by telephone following our visit to the office to gain their views on the care they provided. During our inspection visit we spoke with the registered manager and four support workers. We spoke with one health professional who supported some people who received care from SENAD Community. We reviewed four people’s care records to see how their care and support was planned and delivered. We checked whether staff had been recruited safely and were trained to deliver the care and support people required. We looked at other records related to people’s care and how the service operated including quality assurance audits and records of complaints.

Updated 13 December 2016

SENAD Community - Coventry is registered as a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes. The service specialises in supporting people with rehabilitation following injury or a prolonged period of inpatient care, such as in hospital. At the time of our inspection visit the agency supported seven people with personal care and employed 49 Support workers. The service supported people with a range of care needs which included physical disability, mental health care needs, sensory impairment and learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. The registered manager explained to us that they called care workers “support workers” because this enabled people to recognise that they were there to support a person to do things for themselves.

We visited the offices of SENAD community on 16 September 2016. We told the provider before the inspection visit we were coming so they could arrange for support workers to be available to talk with us.

The service had a registered manager. 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

People felt safe using the service and there were processes to minimise risks to people’s safety. These included procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care and for managing people’s medicines safely.

Support workers understood how to protect people from the risk of abuse and keep people safe. Support workers suitability and character was checked during the recruitment process to make sure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.

The registered manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), and support workers respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided personal care.

There were enough support workers to deliver the care and support people required. People said Support workers arrived around the time expected and stayed long enough to complete the care people required. People told us support workers were kind and knew how they liked to receive their care.

Support workers received an induction when they started working for the service and completed regular training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively. People told us support workers had the right skills to provide the care and support they required. Support records and risk assessments contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the care people needed in a way they preferred.

People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available for people. Support workers said they could raise any concerns or issues with the management team, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

Staff felt supported to do their work and people felt able to contact the office and management at any time. There were systems to monitor and review the quality of service people received and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys, spot checks on support workers and a programme of other checks and audits.