Updated 22 January 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
This inspection was carried out by two inspectors, two assistant inspectors and two experts 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.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and 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
This inspection was announced. We gave the service one weeks’ notice. This was because we asked the registered manager to arrange for us to be able to contact people using the service, their relatives and staff as part of the inspection. We also needed to check the current Covid-19 status for staff who worked at the office where we would be inspecting.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We spoke with the registered manager about medicines management concerns and they told us they would put an action plan in place to address these. 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 the registered manager and care coordinator. We made phone calls to 12 care staff on 29 and 30 September 2020. We made phone calls to 14 people who used the service and 12 relatives on 29 September 2020. We reviewed the action plan for medicines management implemented by the registered manager.
We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medicines records. We looked at four staff files in relation to their recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and policies were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.