VHM Care Ltd

Updated 15 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

This comprehensive inspection was carried out over two days by one inspector.

Service and service type:

VHM Care Limited is a domiciliary care service, which provides personal care and support services for a range of people living in their own homes. 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 was an announced inspection. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the registered manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be available.

What we did before inspection:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it registered with the CQC on 13 July 2018. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection:

We spoke with three people who use the service, two relatives, the registered manager, director, HR and finance officer and three members of staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection:

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

We sought feedback for health and social care professionals about their experiences of the service.

Updated 15 August 2019

About the service:

VHM Care Limited provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. It provides support to older people and younger adults with physical disabilities, learning difficulties, sensory impairments, mental health and people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection 12 people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

VHM Care Limited has been registered with the CQC for one year. The service did not start supporting people with personal care in their own home until mid-December 2018. People were often referred from hospital for a six-week period to support people with rehabilitation. People and relatives were very positive about their experiences to date. People told us that the service was very professional, and they felt confident with the care and support from staff.

The registered manager had not notified the CQC of a significant safeguarding and this is an area that requires improvement.

People’s care documentation did not always record information about people’s preferences in relation to their interests, hobbies, religious needs and end of life care wishes.

Opportunities to continuously learn, improve and innovate were not always evident as quality assurance systems had not been fully embedded. This included gathering feedback from people, staff, relatives and professionals about their experiences of the service to drive improvement.

People told us they felt safe and knew who to contact if they had any concerns. Systems supported people to stay safe and reduce the risks to them. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse and what action to take to keep people safe. There was enough staff to support people safely and the registered manager had safe recruitment procedures and processes in place. A relative told us, “The service is responsive, the staff seem nice, approachable and polite. They always check my loved one’s home is safe.”

People received their medicines safely and on time. Staff were trained in administering medicines. People knew what their medication was for and told us they felt reassured by the support with their medicines. People were protected by the prevention and control of infection. Staff wore gloves and aprons when supporting people.

People were supported to maintain their health and had support to access health care services when they needed to. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People received kind and compassionate care. People and relatives told us that staff treated them with kindness and we observed friendly interactions when attending a care visit. One person told us, “I have never had care before and it is better than I expected.”

People received person centred care that was responsive to their needs and people and relatives knew how to raise a complaint.

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

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection of VHM Care Limited since it was registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 13 July 2018. New services are assessed to check they are likely to be safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led when registering.

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection that was scheduled to take place in line with Care Quality Commission (CQC) scheduling guidelines for adult social care.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good.