1 October 2019
During a routine inspection
ARC Community Care is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people in their own home. This includes personal care, shopping, activities and appointments to people who live in their own homes. The agency provide support to people with a range of care needs and includes older people, people living with dementia and people with physical disabilities. The office base is located in a residential area of Lytham St Anne’s. At the time of our inspection ARC Community Care provided services to 44 people. 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
People were safe and protected from abuse because staff assessed and managed risk. Staff were recruited safely. People told us staff were reliable and consistently met their care and support needs. People received their medicines as they needed.
People were helped to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff assessed people's capacity to make decisions and supported them with decision making. Staff supported people with meal preparation where needed. They encouraged them to eat and drink enough to keep them in the best health possible. They liaised with health and social care professionals effectively and sought advice quickly if people were ill or injured. Staff had the training, skills and experience to provide good care.
Staff provided care that met people’s different needs and preferences. People and where appropriate, their relatives were involved in planning their care and encouraged to make decisions. People said they were pleased with their care. They told us they were treated respectfully and with consideration to their privacy and dignity.
Staff assessed people’s communication needs and were familiar with the ways people communicated. People said they had no complaints but would be able to discuss any concerns or complaints and felt they would be acted on. Staff understood the importance of supporting people to have a comfortable, pain free and peaceful end of life.
People said staff encouraged them to give their opinions about the service and to make decisions about their care. They told us staff listened to and acted on these. The registered manager worked in partnership with other services and organisations to make sure they followed good practice and people in their care were safe. The management team monitored and audited the service to check on the quality and make sure staff were providing good care. They understood and acted on legal obligations, including conditions of CQC registration and those of other organisations.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
At the last inspection the service was rated good (7 April 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information 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.