Updated 14 August 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 was completed by one inspector.
Service and service type
The service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to adults living in their own homes.
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 to ensure the registered manager and senior staff were available. We visited the office on 28 June and 2 July 2019 to see the registered manager, nominated individual and senior team and to review care records, policies and procedures. On 2 July 2019 we visited two people in their own homes and spoke with one relative.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
The law requires providers to notify us of certain events that happen during the running of a service. We reviewed notifications submitted to us by the provider.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager, the nominated individual, the administrator, the office manager, the field supervisor and three care staff, two people who use the service and one relative. We reviewed care and support documents for four people. We also reviewed records which included four staff recruitment files, staff rotas, staff training records, the providers’ policies for medicines management and complaints, team meeting minutes, the provider’s business improvement plan and feedback from people.
After the inspection
We reviewed additional evidence sent to us by the provider including the staff training matrix and records of medicines incidents. These included actions taken by senior staff to mitigate risks and prevent further errors.