Background to this inspection
Updated
30 July 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 legal requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It was also part of the first testing phase of the new inspection process CQC is introducing for adult social care services. We undertook the inspection visit on 1 May 2014.
The last inspection took place in December 2013. We looked at how the service respected and involved people who used the service and promoted their care and welfare, how the service safeguarded people from abuse, how the service supported workers and assessed and how they monitored the quality of the service they provided. We did not identify any concerns at that inspection.
Before this inspection we sent survey questionnaires to 30 people who used the service and 19 people responded to us. As the service provided care to people in Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham, prior to the visit we asked the local Healthwatch in those areas if they had any information to share with us about the service and spoke with representatives of the local authorities who commissioned people’s packages of care.
Before the inspection we looked at the information we hold about the service, including the notifications sent to us by the registered manager and information we had received from the local authorities about safeguarding alerts, referrals and investigations.
Our inspection team was made up of an 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.
On the day of the inspection visit we spoke with the registered manager. We looked at six people’s written records including their initial assessments, care plans and risk assessments, six staff personnel records including records of recruitment and training. We also looked at the staff training matrix, a number of policies and procedures, the service’s business continuity plan and the staff handbook. As part of the inspection we contacted 20 people by telephone, including six people’s close relatives. We also spoke with six members of care staff.
Updated
30 July 2014
Allied Healthcare - Sheffield is a domiciliary care service that is registered to provide personal and nursing care. Support is provided to adults living in their own homes. Support is based on individual need and can range from a fifteen minute call up to twenty four hours a day.
The service had a registered manager in post at the time of inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and shares the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law with the provider.
Our inspection team was made up of an 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.
As part of the inspection we contacted 14 people who used the service and six people’s close relatives by telephone. The people we spoke with told us they felt happy and safe with the service. They said staff treated them with respect and were mindful of their rights and dignity. They said staff were caring and kind.
People’s needs had been assessed and their care was given in a way that suited their needs. They were involved in making decisions about taking risks in their lives.
People who used the service and people who mattered to them, such as close family members, had been encouraged to make their views known about their care. People had contributed to their assessments and care plans, about how they should be given care and support and their packages of care had been designed around this.
People’s care plans had a good level of information about how each person should be supported which helped to make sure staff knew how to meet people’s needs.
Staff were well trained, skilled and experienced. People told us the staff were kind and gave them the privacy they needed. They said the staff had caring attitudes and encouraged people to be as independent as they could be.
People were encouraged to share any concerns and complaints they had. The people we spoke with had no complaints and said they were very happy with the service, as re was a new manager, who had made improvements.
People had a chance to say what they thought about the service. We found the service learned from its mistakes by using complaint and incidents as an opportunity for learning or improvement. There was good leadership at all levels and the managers promoted a positive culture that was person centred, open, inclusive and empowering.