Archived: Allied Healthcare Durham

Updated 10 November 2018

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 is 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.

Inspection activity took place from 9 October to 19 October 2018. This included visits to the provider’s office where we reviewed records, policies and procedures. To obtain additional feedback, we spoke with family members and support staff by telephone on 9 and 15 October 2018. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary service and we needed to be sure that they would be in.’

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care 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 service. The expert by experience made telephone calls to people and relatives.

Before the inspection we reviewed other information, we held about the service and the provider. This included statutory notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are reports about changes, event or incidents the provider is legally obliged to send to CQC within required timescales. We also used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We contacted the local authority commissioners for the service, the local authority safeguarding team, the clinical commissioning group (CCG).

During the inspection we spoke with three people who used the service and 10 relatives. We met with the manager, the care delivery director, one care worker, one nurse, the field care supervisor, the provider’s training manager, the administrator and one member of staff. We contacted three staff members by telephone. We also received feedback from one health and social care professional.

We looked at four people’s support records and records relating to the management of the service including recruitment records of three staff.

Updated 10 November 2018

The inspection took place from 9 to 19 October 2018. The visit to the provider’s office took place on 9 and 19 October 2018 and was announced. Further inspection activity included telephone calls to people, relatives and staff. No visits were made to people’s homes.

Allied Healthcare Durham is a domiciliary care agency which provides care and treatment to people within their own home. They provide support to people with more complex packages of care in the Durham and surrounding areas to help people maintain their independence. At this inspection visit Allied Healthcare - Durham was providing packages of care to approximately 44 people.

The service did not have 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.’

The manager who was managing the service had submitted their application to CQC to become the registered manager.

We last inspected the service in April 2016 and rated the service as good. At this inspection we found the service remained ‘Good’ and met all the fundamental standards we inspected against.

This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

The provider had policies and procedures in place to keep people safe. Staff were trained in safeguarding.

Staff were aware of safeguarding processes and knew how to raise concerns if they felt people were at risk of abuse or poor practice.

The manager maintained a record of all accident, incidents and safeguarding concerns and ensured lessons learnt were disseminated to staff.

Risks to people were assessed with control measures in place for staff support and guidance.

Medicines were managed safely by trained staff whose competency to administer medicines were checked regularly.

The provider ensured staffing rotas met the needs of people who used the service. Staff were appropriately trained and received regular supervisions and appraisals.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives, and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff supported people with their nutritional needs to maintain a healthy varied diet. People had access to health and social care professionals when necessary.

Staff treated people with dignity and respect and helped to maintain people’s independence by encouraging them to care for themselves where possible. Staff supported people with privacy.

Care records were written in a person-centred way. People’s individual wishes, needs and choices were considered. People’s care and support was reviewed on a regular basis.

The provider had an effective complaints procedure in place and people who used the service and relatives were aware of how to make a complaint.

The provider worked closely with outside agencies and other stakeholders such as commissioners and social workers and ensured people’s transfer between services was planned safely.

The provider had an effective quality assurance process in place. Staff said they felt supported by the management team. People who used the service, family members and staff were regularly consulted about the quality of the service via meetings and/or surveys.