Yorkshire Care At Home

Updated 28 January 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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an assistant inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. 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 the service notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 10 January 2020 and ended on 15 January 2020. On 13 January 2020 we visited the office to review documentation relating to people’s care and the management of the service. Between 10 and 15 January 2020, we made phone calls to people who used the service, their relatives and staff.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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

We spoke with two people who used the service and five relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the director, registered manager and six care workers. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We received feedback from three health and social care professionals who worked closely with the service.

Updated 28 January 2020

About the service

Yorkshire Care at Home is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes and flat. At the time of the inspection the service was providing care to 34 people.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is 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 and what we found

People and relatives spoke positively about the service provided. They were happy with call times and said they were supported by the same staff. They felt safe and told us staff were consistent, kind and caring. People’s privacy and dignity were respected and promoted during the delivery of care. The service was responsive to people’s health and social care needs. Medicines were managed safely.

The registered manager was approachable and supportive. Audits and checks were in place to monitor the quality of the service. The registered manager had initiated a range of improvements which had led to positive outcomes for people and staff. We received positive feedback about the service being well managed and organised. One health care professional said, “They are always one of my first choices when searching for a care provider.”

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. We have made a recommendation about updating documentation to reflect people’s involvement more clearly.

People’s care needs were assessed, and they received person centred care from staff who knew them well. People’s care plans were up to date and regularly reviewed. When people were at the end of their life the service provided compassionate care staff to support them and their relatives. The service worked in close partnership with health care professionals to achieve this. The service was committed to receiving and acting on feedback from people through a process of regular telephone and face to face reviews

Staff had the skills to support people appropriately. They were knowledgeable about people and the topics we asked them about. They received support, training and supervision. This was reviewed regularly to ensure staff had the knowledge and skills to meet people’s needs.

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

Rating at last inspection and update: The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 10 January 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. 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 information 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.