Updated 25 December 2021
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 one inspector and an Expert by Experience, who conducted telephone calls with people using the service and their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses, flats and specialist housing.
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 36 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to ensure the registered manager was available to support the inspection and to ensure we had prior information to promote safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The notice period also allowed the provider time to start asking people using the service and their relatives, if they would be prepared to speak to us about their experiences. Inspection activity started on 22 November and ended on 2 December, by which time we had sought the views of people, relatives and staff and reviewed all additional information sent following the visit. We conducted the office visit on 24 November 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included notifications sent to us by the home. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. 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 sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with eight people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with registered manager and sought the views of nine staff members via a mixture of telephone interviews and emailed questionnaires. We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment, training and support. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at audit and governance information, newsletters, surveys, medicine records, training and supervision information.