Craven Home Care

Updated 7 November 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the registered provider is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection site visit activity started on 23 October 2017 and ended on 24 October 2017. We visited the office location on 24 October 2017 to meet with the registered provider and the training manager and to review care records and policies and procedures.

We reviewed a range of records about people’s care and the way the service was managed. These included the care records for three people, medicine administration records, staff training records, two staff recruitment files, staff supervision and appraisal records, minutes from meetings, quality assurance audits, incident and accident reports, complaints and compliments records and records relating to the management of the service. We also looked at the results from the most recent customer satisfaction survey completed by people using the service.

Prior to the visit to the agency office, we spoke with four people using the service, two relatives and three staff over the telephone. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

In preparation for our visit, we checked the information we held about the service and the provider. This included statutory notifications sent to us by the registered provider about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events, which the service is required to send us by law.

The inspection was informed by feedback from questionnaires that we sent to 23 people using the service and 23 relatives; we received nine completed questionnaires from people and one from a relative. 16 questionnaires were sent to staff and ten were returned and eight questionnaires sent to community professional staff with none returned.

We 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.

Updated 7 November 2017

This announced inspection took place on 23 and 24 October 2017. This was the first inspection since the service was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in August 2015.

Craven Home Care provides personal care and support for people living in their own homes. The office is based in the town of Earby and the services are provided in the surrounding rural and semi-rural areas.

There was no regulatory requirement to have registered manager as the provider also acted as the manager and was responsible for the day to day operation of the service. The provider was registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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 using the service consistently told us they felt safe and staff were caring and treated them well. They told us staff were like their family and they trusted them implicitly. Safeguarding adults’ and children’s procedures were in place and staff understood their responsibilities to safeguard people from abuse. Potential risks to people's safety and wellbeing had been assessed and managed. People received their medicines safely.

Staff were recruited following a safe and fair process. People received care and support from a consistent team of staff with whom they were familiar. Staff arrived on time and stayed for the full time allocated. People spoke positively about the staff that supported them and told us they were always treated with care, respect and kindness. Staff were respectful of people’s privacy and maintained their dignity. Staff had developed good relationships with people and were familiar with their needs, routines and preferences.

Staff had sufficient knowledge and skills to meet people's needs effectively. They completed an induction programme when they started work and they were up to date with the provider's mandatory training. They were well supported by the management team and they enjoyed working for the agency.

People were involved in the development and review of their care plans and were able to influence the delivery of their care. Staff had up to date information about people’s needs and wishes and there were systems in place to respond when their needs changed. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and their healthcare needs were monitored as appropriate. People were supported with their dietary needs in accordance with their care plan.

Staff supported people to access the local community and to pursue their leisure interests. Good links had been developed with the local community and the provider arranged regular events for people, their families and staff.

People had no complaints about the service they received or about the staff that provided their care and support; they were aware of the complaints procedure and processes and were confident they would be listened to should they raise any concerns.

People were provided with a safe, effective, caring and responsive service that was well led. People made positive comments about the leadership and management of the agency. Systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service and people’s feedback was sought in relation to the standard of care and support.