Background to this inspection
Updated
31 March 2017
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
This inspection took place on 3 March 2017 and was announced in accordance with our current methodology for the inspection of home care services. The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.
Before this inspection we received some information that indicated appropriate staff recruitment checks had not been completed and that complaints had not been investigated or acted upon. This focused inspection was completed in response to these concerns.
Prior to the inspection we reviewed previous inspection reports and other information we held about the service and notifications that we had received. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law.
During this inspection we spoke with five people who used the service, two relatives, six staff and the registered manager. In addition we reviewed a range of records, these included four care plans, six staff files, training records, staff duty rotas, meeting minutes and the services policies and procedures.
Updated
31 March 2017
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 8 August 2016. At that time the service was rated good overall. We issued a recommendation relating to the quality of information contained in care plans. After that inspection we received concerns in relation to recruitment practices and processes for dealing with complaints. As a result we undertook an announced focused inspection on 3 March 2017 to look into those concerns.
On the day of our inspection the service was supporting approximately 70 people who lived in their own homes.
This report only covers our findings in relation to two of our key questions. Is the service safe and Is the service responsive. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for South Western Homecare on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
The service requires a registered manager and at the time of the inspection there was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
The service was operating safe recruitment practices. All necessary checks including Disclosure and Barring Service checks (DBS) and reference reviews had been completed.
People’s complaints had been fully investigated and appropriate action taken to address and resolve any minor issues reported to the registered manager. One person who had recently made a complaint told us it had been investigated and resolved. Each month the service contacted everyone who the service supported to gather feedback about the care provided . The feedback was consistently positive and people told us, “I have never had anything to complain about they are very good” and “We have no problems, I would never change them. I raised something once and it was dealt with.”
People told us told us they felt safe and well cared for by their care staff. One relative said, “Oh yes [My relative] is safe. I feel they are looking after her” and “I could not and wished for anyone better to look after [My relative].”
There were sufficient numbers of staff available to provide all planned care visits and the service operated a call monitoring system to help ensure all planned care visits were provided each day. People and their relatives said, “I’ve had no missed visits” and “They have never had a missed visit, we have never been forgotten.” Daily care records and call monitoring information showed that people normally received care visits on time and for the correct duration.
In order to address the recommendation made as a result of our previous inspection findings the a new care planning format had been introduced. The updated care plans provided staff with sufficient detailed information and guidance to enable them to meet people’s needs. Staff told us, “The new ones they have done recently are really good” and “There is one in everyone’s house. They are quite good they have enough information in them.”
The provider operated a day centre as they had identified that many of the people they supported had become socially isolated as a result of their care needs. In addition, the service routinely provided support to enable people to live as independently as possible within their own homes. People told us staff had made them Christmas dinner and staff described how they had moved one person’s bed downstairs to enable the person to return home from hospital. People told us, “They go that little bit further to help” and a relative said, “When [My relative] is feeling tired she can ring them up and they will try to come earlier in the day to help her to bed.” Staff said, “The clients are what we are about” while the registered manager commented, “I do feel we go well above and beyond for the community” and “We do what we can to help people out. It’s what I do, it’s all I do.”
People consistently praised care staff for the kindness and compassion with which they provided support. People’s comments included, “They have been looking after me very well. I am well and truly happy with them”, “The staff are great, Superb. Nothing is too much trouble” and “They are my little darlings” and “They seem to enjoy their job.”