Archived: Somerset Care Community (Chard)

Updated 7 January 2015

We visited the service on 7 and 8 May 2014. 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 regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to pilot a new inspection under Wave 1. We also made telephone calls to people using the service and staff on 9 and 12 May 2014.

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an expert by experience with expertise in older people’s services. We also sent a questionnaire out to people using the service and their relatives.

On the days of the inspection there were around 500 people receiving personal care living in their own homes.  We were invited to visit five people in their homes. We spoke with a further 18 people on the telephone. We also spoke with nine relatives, 13 members of staff and the registered manager. We also spent time looking at records, which included eight people’s care records, and records relating to the management of the service including audits, complaints received and six staff files.

Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service. At our last inspection in July 2013 we told the provider to take action because people’s views were not always being considered when the agency decided what time they provided care and who provided their care. They sent us a plan outlining the action they would take and we reviewed this alongside previous inspection reports and information received by the Care Quality Commission.

Updated 7 January 2015

Somerset Care Community (Chard) provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection they were providing personal care to around 500 people.

When we visited there was a registered manager in post.  A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider.

At our last inspection in July 2013 we told the provider to take action because people’s views were not always being considered when the agency decided what time and who provided their care. They sent us a plan outlining the actions they would take and we found that improvements had been made. People told us they were well cared for and their needs were met at times that were convenient to them. They told us they felt involved in their care.

Information about medicines was not always shared with senior staff to ensure that appropriate action could be taken. This meant that problems with medicines might not be acted on in a way that kept people safe. People’s medicines were also not recorded accurately and we were unable to tell if they had been administered safely. The concerns identified meant there had been a breach of Regulation 13 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010). You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the report.

Staff received the support and training they needed in order to carry out their duties to a good standard. There was comment from most staff that the out of hours telephone support provided by the organisation was not effective because they could not get through to it, and they had developed their own informal supports within the service to compensate for this. There were enough staff but at weekends we were told it could be difficult to cover all the calls. There had been 14 missed calls since January 2014. These had been investigated and where appropriate action had been taken with individual staff. These missed visits had not resulted in any harm to people using the service because no vital care had been missed.

Staff we spoke with demonstrated an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and how to apply the principles of the Act. The Act protects the rights of people who are not able to make decisions about their care or treatment.

We found there was a positive relationship between staff and management and staff felt involved in service improvements.

Most people told us they were happy with the care they received and believed the staff were caring and had the skills they needed to do their job well.