Home Instead Senior Care

Updated 22 April 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

The inspection was conducted by 1 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 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 not a registered manager in post. A new manager was in post and told us of their intention to submit an application to register. No application had been submitted at the time of the inspection.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and people are often out and we wanted to be sure there would be people at home to speak with us.

Inspection activity started on 8 March 2023 and ended on 13 March 2023. We visited the location’s office on 8 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We used information gathered as part of monitoring activity that took place on 4 January 2023 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgement. We also 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 7 care staff, 3 people and 5 relatives of people about their care experience. We also spoke with the current service manager, care staff supervisor and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We looked at 5 care plans including risk assessments, medication records, incidents and safeguarding’s. We looked at 2 staff files. We also reviewed staff training information and the provider’s policies and quality assurance processes.

Updated 22 April 2023

About the service

Home Instead Senior Care is a domiciliary care service providing care and support to people living in their own homes. The service provides support to older adults, some of whom may be living with dementia, a physical disability or a sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 79 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

At the time of the inspection there was no registered manager in post. There had been a change of ownership to the company and the new nominated individual was in the process of developing and introducing new processes and systems.

Without exception, everyone spoken with was complimentary about the service they received from their individual care staff members. The staff we spoke with were dedicated to the people they supported and passionate about their role within Home Instead Senior Care.

Feedback was sought from people, relatives and staff through surveys, care reviews and staff supervisions. The provider worked effectively with health care professionals. People and relatives felt involved in the planning of their care.

People received personalised care from kind staff members who had the skills and knowledge to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively. People and their relatives all told us how wonderful, caring and kind their care staff were.

Staff were aware of their obligation to report any concerns and the provider had processes in place to support them. They knew the signs to look out for if people were at risk of being abused and who to report concerns to.

The provider had safe recruitment practices in place to make sure people were supported by suitable staff members.

People's needs were assessed before they joined the service. Care plans were person centred and daily recordings were detailed. Risks to people were identified, assessed and clear information was available to staff to support them to provider safe and effective care.

People’s medication was safely administered by staff, who had received the appropriate training. There were effective measures in place to help reduce and mitigate the risk of cross contamination between home visits. The provider made sure there was a plentiful supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the staff to use.

Incidents and accidents had been investigated and appropriate action taken. Measures had been put in place to mitigate future risk of occurrence.

The culture of the provider was open and transparent. All the staff told us they felt valued and well supported by the provider and the management team.

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.

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 (published 14 October 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained good.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Home Instead Senior Care 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.