Updated 19 April 2019
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:
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type:
The service is a domiciliary care agency. People receive a personal care service within their own home and it is the personal care that is regulated by CQC. Not everyone using Essex Community Support & Enabling Services receives regulated activity; 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 take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection there were 10 people who used the service that received personal care.
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 48 hours’ notice because we wanted to be certain the registered manager and key staff would be available on the day of our inspection visit. We also wanted to give them sufficient time to make arrangements with people so we could visit them in their homes to find out their experience of using the service.
What we did:
Before the inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service and the provider. The registered manager completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information that we request that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and any further developments they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.
Inspection site visit activity started on 20 March 2019 when we visited the service and ended on 28 March 2019 when we provided feedback. During the visit to the service we spoke with the registered manager and four members of staff. We visited four people who used the service in their own flats. We reviewed the care records of three people to check they were receiving their care as planned. We looked at records relating to the management of the service, staff recruitment and training, and systems for monitoring the quality of the service.
We received electronic feedback from one person who used the service, two relatives, one member of staff and two community professionals.