Compassion Care Limited

Updated 14 August 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. 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

This inspection was carried out by a single 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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority. 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 three people who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We contact a healthcare professional who provided care for some people using the service. We spoke with three members of staff, the nominated individual, registered manager, and a care worker. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medicines records. We looked at two 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.

Updated 14 August 2019

About the service

Compassion Care is registered as a domiciliary care agency providing the regulated activity ‘personal care’ to people who live in their own homes in Cotgrave and surrounding areas. At the time of the inspection visit there were 21 people using the service. The service is owned by two people one of who is the nominated individual and one who is the registered manager. We have referred to them throughout this report as the registered persons.

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 told us they received a high-quality service which exceeded their expectations. They used words such as excellent, superb and fantastic to describe the support they received and told us that they considered the staff as their friends. They received care from a small number of staff who knew their needs well. People were confident that staff would turn up on time and rotas supported staff to keep to their planned schedule. Staff training and ongoing support was in place. The registered persons and staff went the extra mile in ensuring that people were safe and well cared for, identifying alternative care and equipment to suit people’s individual needs.

Staff supported and helped to maintain people’s relationship with their family members and the local community. Staff were aware of the activities people liked to do and ensured they had everything they needed at each care visit.

People had been fully involved in planning their care and care plans reflected people’s needs and were kept up to date. Risks were fully identified and care was planned to keep people safe. Relatives were confident that the provider had arranged for any equipment needed to minimise risks. Medicines were safely managed and monitored, and staff worked to minimise the risk of infection.

People received compassionate care at the end of their lives and staff worked collaboratively with palliative care professionals to support people’s needs. Appropriate medicines were arranged to keep people pain free at this time.

Staff had received training in keeping people safe and relatives told us of how vigilant staff were around people’s safety and how supportive they had been when there were any concerns.

Staff monitored people’s health and raised concerns with healthcare professionals appropriately. They worked collaborately with health and social care professionals to improve the quality of people’s lives.

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.

Effective monitoring of the care provided was in place. Accidents and complaints were investigated and effective action taken to keep people safe. The registered persons put people using the service and staff wellbeing at the heart of the service. They continued to develop the service to improve the care provided to people.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 08 March 2016). At this inspection we found the provider had maintained the rating of good.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Compassion Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.