Spring Consult UK Ltd

Updated 30 June 2022

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 carried out by an 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 homes.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider would be available to support the inspection when we visited.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since our last 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 also reviewed intelligence information we held on our system including notifications about important incidents.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and nine relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke with the registered manager, quality assurance manager and two members of staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included people's care and risk management plans, medicines management records, staff files in relation to recruitment and training data. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

We contacted five healthcare professionals to find out their experiences of working with this provider.

Updated 30 June 2022

About the service

Spring Consult is a domiciliary care agency. It provides nursing and personal care to children and adults living in their own homes. This service specialises in supporting children and adults with complex healthcare needs. 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. At the time of our inspection they were providing care to 31 people who lived at home.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

People and their relatives felt staff were caring and that support provided was safe. Staff knew people well and had training to understand their individual nursing and care needs. Care plans and risk assessments provided detailed information in relation to a range of people's conditions including, complex health care, nutrition and mobility needs. Medicines were managed as prescribed and in line with national guidance. Staff effectively followed infection control and prevention guidance, including those associated with COVID-19, to prevent people from catching and spreading infections. Individual to people fire safety guidance was not in place but the registered manager assured us that this will be actioned as necessary.

There was a good leadership at the service with shared responsibilities to ensure effective care provision. Quality assurance processes were in place and followed effectively making sure people's care was monitored regularly. Staff received on-going support to carry out their roles and responsibilities as necessary. The staff team worked closely with the health and social care professionals making sure people received the care that they needed.

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 09/05/2018).

Why we inspected

This was a planned focused inspection based on when we last inspected the service. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led. 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. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Spring Consult 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.