Background to this inspection
Updated
21 December 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
The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an Expert 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. Their area of expertise was with older people.
Service and service type
Poole Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means they and the nominated individual 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 visit. We needed to be sure that people were informed that we would be contacting them by telephone, and we needed a manager to be available to facilitate this inspection.
Inspection activity started on 14 November 2019 and ended on 22 November 2019. We visited the office location on 14 and 15 November 2019.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to help us plan the inspection. We obtained feedback from two social care professions. Both provided very positive comments which are detailed in the main body of this report.
During the inspection
During the inspection we spoke with two people and seven relatives. We also spoke with the registered manager, the nominated individual and four staff.
We reviewed a range of records including five care plans and medicines records, five staff files, staff training records and other information about the management of the service. This included quality assurance records and audits, medicines records and maintenance of equipment.
Updated
21 December 2019
About the service
Poole Home Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of this inspection 45 people were receiving care and support from the service. Not everyone using Poole Home Care Limited receives regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care': help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Without exception, everyone we spoke with or received feedback from was very positive about the service. This was due to excellent leadership from the registered provider and registered manager as well as committed and well trained team of staff.
People received personalised care which was responsive to their individual needs. Staff had an excellent understanding of the care and support people needed and provided this with great care and commitment.
People were encouraged and supported to eat and drink well.
People told us they felt listened to and consulted when planning and agreeing what care and support they needed.
Staff had completed safeguarding training and understood their role in identifying and reporting any concerns of potential abuse or poor practice.
Risks to people were assessed and regularly reviewed. Staff understood the actions needed to minimise the risk of avoidable harm including the prevention of avoidable infection.
Staff supported people to take medicines safely. Staff were trained in medicines management and knew how to ensure that people received their medicines on time and as they had been prescribed.
There were sufficient numbers of trained, experienced staff to meet people’s needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed, and appropriate checks completed to ensure that only suitable staff were employed. The service has retained 100 % of the staff employed since the service started on 23 November 2018.
Staff received induction and on-going training and support that enabled them to carry out their roles positively and effectively.
People had access to healthcare services and were involved in decisions about their care and wellbeing. Partnerships with other agencies and health professionals enabled effective outcomes for people.
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 and where appropriate their relatives were involved in decisions about their care.
People, relatives and professionals told us they could confidently raise any concerns, and these were addressed appropriately.
The registered provider and registered manager continually reviewed the service and sought ways to improve the service to benefit both the people receiving the service and staff. They had built strong relationships with relevant professionals and within the local community to promote learning and meeting people’s needs.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 23 November 2018 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the service's registration date.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.