Angel Care Services UK HQ and Support services

Updated 2 September 2023

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was undertaken by 1 inspector and 2 Experts 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 24 July 2023 and ended on 25 July 2023. We visited the location’s office on 24 July 2023.

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 (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager who was also the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We spoke with the quality care manager, a co-ordinator and16 care staff. We spoke with 10 people who used the service and 14 relatives about their experiences of the care provided. We looked at 4 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We reviewed 9 people’s care plans and associated information including medicines records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, auditing and governance records were reviewed.

Updated 2 September 2023

Angel Care Services is a domiciliary service providing personal care to adults with a range of support needs, including people with a learning disability and autistic people. The service provides support to people in their own houses and flats. At the time of our inspection there were 89 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

The provider ensured risks were assessed and mitigated effectively; medicines were managed safely. Audits in place were robust enough to identify and address any ongoing issues.The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people lead confident, inclusive, and empowered lives. Staffing levels were sufficient to meet people's needs and managers recruited staff safely. Staff followed an induction programme, and training was on-going throughout employment.

Staff thoroughly assessed people's needs before commencing a package of care. Care plans included information about support required in areas such as nutrition, mobility, and personal care to help inform care provision. Staff made appropriate referrals to other agencies and professionals when required.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported by staff to pursue their interests and staff supported them to achieve their aspirations and goals.

Right Care:

Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy, and human rights. Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people and understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care. People received kind and compassionate care. Staff protected and respected people’s privacy and dignity and understood and responded to their individual needs. Staff understood how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it. The provider worked well with other agencies.

People’s care plans reflected their range of needs, and this promoted their wellbeing. People told us they were well treated, and their equality and diversity were respected. People felt staff considered their views when agreeing on the support required. Staff identified people's communication needs and addressed these with appropriate actions.

Right Culture:

People led inclusive and empowered lives because of the ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of the management and staff. Staff knew and understood people well and were responsive to people’s needs. People received consistent care from staff who knew them well.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 31 May 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Angel Care Services UK HQ and Support services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.