Avon Home Carers

Updated 1 September 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.

This inspection took place over three days,18th to 20th July 2018 and was announced. We gave the service short notice of our visit to the office on 18th July, because we wanted to make sure the people we needed to speak with were available. The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete 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 reviewed other information we held about the service, including the notifications we had received from the provider. Notifications are changes, events or incidents the provider is legally obliged to notify us of.

We spoke with the provider/registered manager, the deputy, two supervisors, eight care staff and two office staff. We looked at the care records for four people and other electronic care records. We also looked at records relating to the running of the service. This included, policies and procedures, records of events that had happened, quality checks that had been completed, supervision, training and recruitment records for six members of staff.

We spoke with 17 people who used the service or their relatives and asked them about the care and support they received from Avon Home Carers.

Updated 1 September 2018

This inspection was started on Wednesday 18 July 2018 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice of the inspection to ensure that the provider/registered manager and office staff were available. On 19 and 20 July 2018 we made calls to people who use the service and staff to gain their views and experiences. The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

At the time of this inspection the service were providing a service to 137 people in their own homes and had 55 care staff. The service provided services to people whose care and support had been commissioned by Bristol City Council, and also people who had set up private arrangements direct with the service.

The service was last inspected in July 2017 and at that time we gave an overall rating of Requires Improvement. There was one breach of regulations because the provider’s quality assurance systems had not identified areas for improvement following a medicines error. Following that inspection the provider had submitted their improvement plan and told us what they planned to do to rectify the issue.

There was a registered manager in post. This was the registered provider. 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 home is run.

Why we have rated this service as Good.

The service provided by Avon Home Carers was safe. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and knew what to do if they were concerned about the welfare of a person. Risk assessments were carried out alongside care planning, including an environmental risk assessment of the person’s home. The service had sufficient care staff and only considered taking on new packages of care if they had the resources to meet people’s care and support needs. The service followed safe recruitment procedures and completed all required pre-employment checks. Medicines were managed safely with people receiving their medicines appropriately. Regular medicine audits were being carried out.

People received a service that was effective and met their care and support needs. Their needs were assessed and a care plan written detailing how the person wanted to be supported. The plans were person centred. People were very much involved in having a say about how their care was delivered.

Staff were well trained and well supported by the management team. Their work performance was regularly checked. People were always asked to give consent before being assisted by the staff and where people were living with dementia, the care staff would act in their best interests after consultation with other parties. The service worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People received a caring service. People told us they were treated in a respectful manner and this was also confirmed by relatives. People were actively encouraged to provide feedback about the service and to express their views about the way they were cared for. People could be expected to be looked after by the smallest number of care staff

People received a service that was responsive to their individual needs. Their care plans were kept under regular review and service delivery was amended as and when necessary. People were encouraged to give feedback about the service. Any complaints they made would be seen as an opportunity to make improvements.

People were provided with a safe, effective, caring and very responsive service that was well led. The provider/registered manager had strengthened the quality assurance systems to ensure any shortfalls were identified and acted upon.