Care O.W.L. Limited

Updated 10 March 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

This 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 had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 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. We also wanted time to obtain contact details of people who used the service and relatives, where appropriate.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager, three members of staff, three relatives and one professional. We looked at three people’s care records and medicines records, records of accidents, incidents, and complaints received by the service. We looked at recruitment records, staff supervision, appraisal records, training matrix and safeguarding’s. We were unable to talk with people we approached family members to understand their experiences of care.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at the services policies and procedures.

Updated 10 March 2020

About the service

Care O.W.L Limited is a Domiciliary Care Agency (DCA) providing personal older adults with dementia, with a varying level of personal care needs. Staff provided care to people living in their own homes. At the time of inspection, the service was supporting 15 people. 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

Care plans had information and guidelines to help staff provide care in a safe and person-centred way. They contained information for staff to ensure people’s risk of pressure ulceration was managed in a safe way.

Relatives felt the staff were on time for calls and would go above and beyond. There were safe recruitment processes in place to ensure people were supported by suitable staff.

Relatives told us the service supported people with their food and drink and tried to enable them to be as actively involved as possible in food preparation.

The service worked in partnership with GPs and specialist teams to make sure care and treatment met people’s needs.

Relatives told us about the professional and friendly support they received from Care O.W.L. Limited. Relatives consistently told us how the service encouraged people to do things to help gain their independence. Care plan were reviewed when people were in hospital to ensure they were up to date when people were discharged.

The provider held a dementia activity café weekly, which helped to stimulate people and avoid social isolation.

Relatives told us they could approach the registered manager, or one of the staff, if they had any issues.

There was a clear management structure in place. Staff all spoke highly of the culture within the organisation and of the registered manager.

Health professionals were positive about the support people received from Care O.W.L Limited.

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 09 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.