Rock of Ages Care

Updated 21 May 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection site visit was carried out by two inspectors and telephone calls were made to people and relatives by 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.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

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 provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 14 April 2022 and ended on 22 April 2022. We visited the service’s office on 19 April 2022.

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 professionals who work with the service.

The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. GAP

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

As part of the inspection we spoke with the registered manager during out site visit. Our Expert by Experience spoke with three people who received care from the agency and five relatives.

We reviewed a range of documentation at our office visit. This included seven care plans, four staff files, medicines records, accident and incidents records, complaints and auditing documentation.

After the inspection

Following our site visit we had contact with 11 staff members to obtain their views about working for the care agency. We also received documentation and evidence from the registered manager that we had requested. This included training records, minutes of staff meetings, survey results, compliments, daily logs and auditing information.

Updated 21 May 2022

About the service

Rock of Ages is a care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. Some people receiving the care may have a long-term health condition or be living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 43 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they were happy with the care they received from the agency. They said staff were kind and caring and treated them with respect.

People said they felt safe in the hands of the carers. Staff knew them and they understood the type of care they required. People said they received the medicines they required and people’s medicines records had improved since our last inspection.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People’s care plans included sufficient detail to help staff provide appropriate care. Staff said they never went to someone without knowing about them first and any changes to a person’s needs were updated in their care plans.

Staff said they had sufficient time with people and if they were running late, they would inform the office. People told us staff arrived when they were expecting them and stayed the time agreed.

People said staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and staff confirmed they had access to PPE when they needed it. We saw the registered manager led by example, wearing their mask throughout our visit to the office.

People were supported with their food and drink and told us staff always ensured they made their own choices in this respect. People were encouraged in their independence and staff supported people to go out if they could.

The agency was not providing care to anyone with an autistic person or anyone with a learning disability. However, we expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support: Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and Independence;

People were encouraged to be independent and make choices around their care.

Right care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights; People were treated as an individual by staff and were provided with respect.

Right culture: Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives;

Management and carers demonstrated a good ethos, one that was centred on the people they provided care to.

People told us they felt the agency was well managed and if they had any concerns or complaints they knew who to raise these with and they were responded to.

Staff were happy working for the agency. They told us they felt supported and listened to and they had the opportunity to express their views in staff meetings.

Learning took place from accidents, incidents and safeguarding concerns. Where important information needed sharing with staff, the registered manager held emergency meetings.

Since our last inspection, the registered manager had recruited additional office staff to help strengthened the governance arrangements within the agency.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (report published 24 October 2020).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

At this inspection we also found the provider had acted on the recommendation we had made to them around staffing.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about people receiving safe and appropriate care. It was also prompted in part to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm. Please see the Safe key question of this full report.

The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Rock of Ages Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.