Background to this inspection
Updated
29 January 2020
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. A new manager had started in October 2019 and had applied to become registered.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
The provider completed a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection
One inspector checked documentation at the office. This included looking at five people’s care plans, medication records, three recruitment files and a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures. We visited and spoke with four people who were receiving care from the service. We also, as part of the inspection, spoke with one staff member and the provider’s operations manager.
Updated
29 January 2020
Austin Place is a domiciliary care agency that was supporting 13 people in their own homes. Not everyone using the service receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene, medicines and eating. At the time of our inspection, five people were receiving the regulated activity. Everyone using the service was an older person and some were living with dementia.
People’s experience of using this service
People were aware they had care plans and told us they felt staff met their needs. People said they were cared for by kind, caring and attentive staff who kept them safe. Staff had developed good relationships with people and were thoughtful in their approach to provide people with the best care possible.
People were happy with the food made for them and the way staff supported them with their medicines and access to healthcare professional input should they need it.
People said they were asked if they were happy with the service they received by the agency. They told us staff timekeeping was good, staff stayed for the time expected and on the whole they saw the same staff. People’s care records were detailed and gave good guidance to staff.
People were cared for by a sufficient number of staff who were well trained. Staff understood their responsibility in helping people retain their independence as well as gaining their consent before they carried out any care.
Staff felt supported and valued by management. Senior staff undertook regular audits of the service to check people were receiving a good level of care and where shortfalls were identified these were addressed. In addition, they looked for ways to improve the service for people.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was Good (report published 18 August 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.