Archived: Compassionate Care Team Limited

Updated 8 September 2016

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 25 May 2016 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they 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 our inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included previous inspection reports, information received and statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. Before the inspection, the provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we made the judgements in this report.

During our inspection we spoke with twelve people who were using the service, eight relatives, seven members of the staff team and the registered manager.

We looked at the care records of three people who used the service, as well as a range of records relating to the running of the service including three staff files, medication records and quality audits carried out at the service.

Updated 8 September 2016

This inspection took place on 25 May 2016 and was announced.

Compassionate Care Team is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to people to enable them to live independently in their own home. At the time of inspection 94 people were receiving personal care from the service.

The service has a registered manager. 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.

Where required, people received the support they needed to manage their medicines, although the records used did not always detail the individual medicines people took.There were enough staff to ensure that people received their calls and meet their care needs, but calls maybe cut short if staff deployment had to be altered at short notice.

Staff took the necessary steps to keep people safe and understood their responsibilities to protect people from the risk of abuse. Potential hazards were identified and detailed plans were in place to enable staff to support people safely.

Staff were provided with the knowledge and skills to care for people effectively although training was not always updated in a timely way. People received the support they required to have enough to eat and drink. People were also provided with the support they needed to enable them to have access to their GP and other health care professionals when they need them.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors the use of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) The provider was aware of the principles of the MCA and how this might affect the care they provided to people. People’s consent was sought before care was provided by staff when they visited.

Positive and caring relationships had been developed between staff and people who used the service. People were involved in the planning and reviewing of their care and making decisions about what care they wanted. People were treated with dignity and respect by staff who understood the importance of this.

People’s care plans provided information about their basic care needs, but did not always contain such detailed information about any specific medical conditions people may have and the implications of this for the support being provided. Communication structures were in place, but these did not always work effectively meaning that staff had sometimes arrived at people's home without having been given all of the information they needed. People felt able to make a complaint and knew how to do so.

The culture of the service was open and the registered manager was working on better ways to discuss issues and deliver clear and consistent messages to the staff team. However, people were supported by staff who were clear about what was expected of them and staff had confidence that they would get the support they needed from the registered manager. The registered manager undertook audits and observed practice to ensure that the care provided met people’s needs.