Updated 24 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
One inspector carried out this inspection.
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 registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 8 July 2019 and ended on 17 July 2019. We visited the office location on 8 July 2019.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
Before the inspection, we checked for any notifications made to us by the provider and the information we held on our database about the service and provider. Statutory notifications are pieces of information about important events which took place at the service, such as safeguarding incidents, which the provider is required to send to us by law.
We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with two members of care staff, the recruitment and training manager and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records, including four care records, medicine administration records, three staff recruitment files and training. We also looked at management quality information including medicines audit documents, spot checks of care staff and accident and incident documentation. We checked the service had key policies in place to guide their work.
After the inspection
We spoke with an additional care staff member, and two relatives. We also spoke with three people using the service to gain their views on the service provided. We contacted three organisations for feedback on the service but they did not respond to our request.