Updated 13 February 2021
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection team consisted of an inspector, an inspection manager and an assistant 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 a short period notice of the inspection because we acknowledge impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic on working arrangements in offices. We wanted to ensure there could be safe arrangements made for us to visit the office in person. We asked for information to be emailed to us where possible to minimise our time in the office.
Inspection activity started on 19 December 2020 and ended on 11 January 2021. We visited the office location on 22 December 2020.
What we did before the inspection
The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
We reviewed information we had received about the service from the registered manager, people who use services and their relatives. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with the registered manager and a member of staff.
We reviewed a range of records. We looked at five staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. 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 registered manager and senior manager to validate evidence found. We spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.
We looked at ten electronic care plan records, policies, training data and quality assurance records.
We sought contact with five people who used the service and four relatives, we were able to speak with three people and two relatives about their experience of the care provided.
We had email contact with two local authority social workers who have regular contact with the service.