Alina Homecare Walton on Thames

Updated 20 June 2018

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.

We carried out this inspection as we aim to inspect services providing a regulated activity within 12 months of their registration. We were not aware of any concerns about this service. The provider was given two working days’ notice of this inspection. This is because the service provides care and support to people in the community; we needed to be certain that someone would be in the office.

The inspection was carried out by a single adult social care inspector. We visited the office on 30 May 2018. On the following day we made calls to people using the service and care workers. We made calls to three people who used the service, three relatives of people using the service and three care workers.

In carrying out this inspection we looked at records of care and support provided to five people and records of medicines management for four people. We looked at records of recruitment and supervision of five care workers and information relating to the management of the service, such as rotas, team meetings, training and audits. We spoke with the registered manager, quality assurance manager and two co-ordinators.

Updated 20 June 2018

We carried out this announced inspection on 30 May 2018. This was the first inspection of this service since it registered in February 2017.

Alina Homecare is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to older people and people with physical disabilities.

Not everyone using this service receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; 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 the service was providing personal care to 29 people.

The service had a registered manager who had been post since the service had registered. 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.

People told us that their care workers were respectful and kind and praised the quality of the service. People were able to contact the office when they had concerns and were regularly contacted to ensure that they were happy with their care. The provider had assessed people’s communication needs to make sure they were able to speak up. There was a clear process for responding to complaints and concerns and ensuring that these were resolved.

The provider operated safer recruitment processes to ensure that staff were suitable for their roles. When people required two care workers to support them this was taking place. Electronic call monitoring was used to ensure that punctuality was maintained. People told us that care workers arrived on time. Care workers received appropriate training and supervision to carry out their roles.

Risks to people’s health and wellbeing were assessed and appropriate plans were in place to mitigate this, including safer moving and handling procedures. Staff were able to recognise signs of abuse and follow the provider’s policy to safeguard people from abuse. People’s medicines were safely managed and this was routinely audited by managers to make sure people received the right medicines. There were systems in place for monitoring incidents and action was taken in order to reduce the risk of a recurrence.

People had consented to their care, and when people lacked the capacity to do this, the provider had assessed people’s capacity to make decisions. However, it was not always clear when a person’s relative had signed for their care why this was happening. We have made a recommendation about this. People’s nutritional needs were assessed and care workers shared good practice around how they could meet these.

Managers had systems in place to check the quality of the service and had a clear vision for what good performance should be. Good communication was maintained between managers and care workers, and people using the service told us they found it easy to contact managers and saw them regularly.

People’s care was planned in a way which met their needs and preferences. People received care in line with their plans and these were regularly reviewed. People spoke of when the service had responded to help them in an emergency.