Archived: Synergy Homecare - Salford

Updated 4 May 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection took place on 22 February 2018 and was announced and ended on the 8 March 2018 following telephone interviews with care staff. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the location provides a domiciliary care service was a small care home for younger adults who are often out during the day. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

The inspection team consisted of two adult care inspectors, who based themselves at the service office on the 22 February to speak with office staff and review care records, policies and procedures and three Experts by Experience who conducted telephone interviews with people using the service during the day. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

As part of our inspection planning we reviewed all the information we held about the service. This included previous inspection reports, action plans and any notifications sent to us by the service including safeguarding incidents. This helped us determine if there were any particular areas to pursue during the inspection.

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

During the course of the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, deputy manager, two care coordinators and eight members of care staff. In addition to this we also spoke with 29 people who used the service and eight family members. We also looked at 12 people’s care files including medicines administration records and eight staff personnel files.

Updated 4 May 2018

The inspection of Synergy Homecare took place on 22 February 2018 and was announced and ended on the 8 March 2018 following telephone interviews with care staff. This was a comprehensive inspection.

Synergy homecare Salford is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community in the Salford and Bolton Area. It provides a service to older adults. At this inspection there were 294 people using the service.

At our last inspection we rated the service good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good.

This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The registered manager was supported in their role by a deputy manager who assisted with the oversight of the day to day running of the service.

People's needs continued to be safely met. There were sufficient numbers of staff available to meet people's needs in a way which people were happy with. People reported they did not feel rushed with their daily routine.

Staff training was in date and training topics were appropriate to people’s needs which meant staff had the skills and knowledge they needed to provide people with safe and informative care.

Adequate risk assessments were in place to recognise people’s positive risk taking and environmental risk assessments were in place both internal and external to protect people using the service, their visitors and staff.

Accidents and incidents were recorded and documented and changes were made to ensure risks were minimised.

Recruitment systems were in place which were robust and appropriate support was provided to new members of staff in the form of induction, supervision and training.

Safeguarding procedures were in place. Staff understood the importance of protecting people from abuse and avoidable harm and gave examples about how to report a concern to service management or external agencies such as the local safeguarding team.

People told us they received support that was caring, friendly and responsive. Staff were able to demonstrate they understood what was required of them, to provide each person with support in line with their individual preference and to ensure independence was promoted which enabled people to live as independently as possible.

People were treated with dignity and their right to make choices about how they preferred their care to be provided was respected. People's rights were also protected. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; provider policies supported this practice.

Pre- assessments were completed prior to a new care package commencing; the service also worked in partnership with the person’s social worker, this ensured the service gained a thorough assessment of the person’s need and were able to make an informed judgement about their ability to meet the person’s needs safely and effectively.

People were supported to eat a diet of their choice and healthy eating was promoted. Staff supported people to have access to health services in the community where required to maintain good health. Staff followed the advice of healthcare professionals in meeting people's needs where appropriate.

Medicines practice was administered safely and people reported they received their medicines as prescribed. Medicines audits and staff observations were completed to ensure management oversight was in place to identify any potential bad practice.

People knew how to raise concerns and complaints and the provider had appropriate policies and procedures in place to manage them appropriately.

Systems were in place to monitor the on-going compliance of the service and people’s views were actively sought and acted upon.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.