Steady Care Services

Updated 6 February 2020

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure the registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Before the inspection

We reviewed the evidence we had about the service. This included any notifications of significant events, such as serious injuries or safeguarding referrals. Notifications are information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law.

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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

Inspection site visit activity started and ended on 9 January 2020. We visited the office location on this date to speak with the registered manager and to review records, policies and procedures.

We checked care records for five people, including their assessments, care plans and risk assessments. We looked at five staff files and records of training and supervision. We also checked arrangements for medicines management, the complaints record, quality monitoring checks, audits and surveys.

After the inspection

We spoke with four people who used the service and four relatives by telephone to hear their views about the agency. We received feedback from nine staff about the training and support they received to carry out their roles.

Updated 6 February 2020

Steady Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency which was supporting 82 people in their own homes at the time of inspection. Seventy-two people received the regulated activity ‘personal care’; 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.

People’s experience of using this service:

People received their care from consistent staff who understood their needs. Staff were kind and caring and treated people with respect. People confirmed that staff offered them choices and respected their decisions about their care. Staff supported people in a way which promoted their independence.

People told us they felt safe when staff provided their care. They said staff understood and followed any guidance in their care plans. People told us their care visits were almost always made on time and said the agency contacted them if staff were running late.

Assessments had been carried out to identify any risks involved in people’s care and measures put in place to mitigate these. Accidents and incidents were recorded and there was evidence of learning when untoward events occurred. People’s medicines were managed safely. Staff were recruited safely and understood their roles in protecting people from abuse.

People’s care and support was provided according to their individual needs. Staff were given sufficient information about people’s needs before providing their care. If people’s needs changed, their package of care was reviewed to establish whether staff had enough time to meet all their care needs at each visit.

Staff monitored people’s health effectively and any concerns they identified were communicated to healthcare professionals. these if necessary. The agency had established good working relationships with professionals involved in people’s care and supported some people to attend medical appointments.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff had an induction when they joined the agency and access to training relevant to their roles. This included training on the use of any equipment involved in people’s care. Staff met regularly with their managers for supervision, which enabled them to discuss their performance and training needs.

The management team maintained an effective oversight of the service and communicated effectively with people, their families, professionals and staff. People had opportunities to give feedback about the care they received through quality checks, surveys and reviews.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection this service was rated requires improvement (report published 11 January 2019). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.