Updated 23 March 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 was conducted by one inspector.
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 provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 11 March 2022 and ended on 15 March 2022. We visited the location’s office on 15 March 2022.
What we did before the inspection
We contacted all of the people using the service, speaking with one of them and their relative, and speaking with the relatives for the other three people.
We looked at the information we held about 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.
During the inspection
We met the registered manager, one of the directors and a representative of the recruitment agency who provided staff to support with care visits.
We looked at the records the provider used for managing the service. These included the care records for all four people, records of quality monitoring and systems the provider had for dealing with complaints, staff recruitment, safeguarding alerts, incidents and staff support.
After the inspection
The provider sent us information about training the directors had undertaken and other auditing systems.