Updated 16 January 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 was undertaken by one inspector.
Service and service type
This is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care as part of reablement to people living in their own houses and flats. The service is primarily aimed at people being discharged from hospital although it also works with some people to prevent hospital admissions.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit as we needed to be sure relevant staff would be available in the services office.
Not everyone received a 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.
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.
Inspection site visit activity started on 15 December 2020 and ended on 24 December 2020. We visited the office location on 15 December 2020 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care and staff records.
What we did before the inspection
Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service, including registration reports and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us.
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 used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with ten people (or their relatives) about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the nominated individual, registered manager, assistant manager, and six other care team members. We spoke with one external social care professional.
We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including, training, quality monitoring, policies and procedures were also reviewed.