Background to this inspection
Updated
22 June 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 9 and 10 May 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides domiciliary care services; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The inspection team consisted of one 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.
Prior to the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service. This included any statutory notifications we had received, which are notifications the provider must send us to inform us of certain events such as serious injuries. We also contacted the local authority and commissioners for information they held about the service. We used this information to help us plan our inspection.
During the inspection, we spoke with six people who used the service and four relatives. We spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager, the field supervisor, and the care coordinator. We reviewed a range of records about how people received their care and how the service was managed. These included 10 care records of people who used the service, four staff records and records relating to the management of the service such as complaints, safeguarding and accident records.
Updated
22 June 2017
This inspection took place on 9 and 10 May 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides domiciliary care services; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. Homecare4u Wolverhampton provides community support and personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, 44 people were receiving a service from the provider. This was the first comprehensive inspection of the service following registration.
There was a registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.
People did not always receive their support at the times they needed it and from consistent staff. The registered manager was aware that there were insufficient staff and was taking action to recruit new staff. People were supported by safely recruited staff that understood how to safeguard them from potential abuse. People medicines were administered safely.
People told us they thought staff had the skills required to support them. Staff had the knowledge to support people effectively and received updates to their training on a regular basis. People told us staff always sought their consent to care and treatment and staff could explain how to apply the principles of the Mental Capacity Act. People received support from staff to maintain a healthy diet and they told us staff enabled them to choose what they had to eat and drink. People received support to monitor their health and access health professionals when they needed to.
People had support from kind polite and caring staff. People were supported to make decisions about all aspects of their care and support and staff enabled them to choose things for themselves. People were supported in a way which maintained their independence. Staff encouraged people to do things for themselves where they were able. Staff supported people in a way which maintained their privacy and dignity when providing care and support.
People told us they were involved in their assessments and care planning and their needs were reviewed on a regular basis. People told us that staff understood their preferences for how care and support was delivered. People knew how to complain and there were systems in place to ensure complaints were appropriately investigated and responded to.
The registered manager had systems in place to check the quality of the service and ensure people’s needs had been met; however these were not always effective. Staff were not always using the systems consistently which enabled the registered manager to monitor call delivery times. People felt they could approach the management team and were able to influence how the service was delivered. Staff felt they were supported by the management team and the registered manager had systems in place to provide effective support for staff. People had opportunities to provide feedback about the quality of the service, and these had led to the registered manager taking action to make improvements.