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Hartfields Domiciliary Care Agency

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Hartfields, Hartlepool, County Durham, TS26 0US (01429) 855070

Provided and run by:
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 30 September 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 team consisted of two inspectors 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.

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

Inspection activity started on 20 July 2022 and ended on 08 September 2022. We visited the location’s office on 22 July 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. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

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.

We also reviewed the information we held about the service. This included any statutory notifications received. Statutory notifications are specific pieces of information about events, which the provider is required to send to us by law.

During the inspection

We spoke to the registered manager and contacted staff via email; we received feedback from six care workers. The Expert by Experience spoke to nine people and nine relatives. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people's complete care records and the medicine records for four people.

We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision as well as staff feedback forms. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were also reviewed.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 30 September 2022

About the service

Hartfields Domiciliary Care Agency is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to people in their own homes within the Hartfields Retirement Village site. The service provides extra care housing for people aged 55 years and over. Not everyone living in the Hartfields Retirement Village requires support with personal care. At the time of the inspection there were 64 people receiving the regulated activity personal care.

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

People and their relatives were very positive about the care provided. People told us they felt safe and staff had the skills to support them.

Staff were safely recruited and received an induction followed by on-going training from the provider. Training was monitored and staff were supported with regular meetings and supervisions. Staffing levels were appropriate and met people’s needs.

People and relatives were involved in every stage of care planning. People had personalised care plans and staff were delivering person-centred care.

The registered manager had an effective quality assurance system which included regular audits and checks. These were used to identify any areas for improvement.

The service was following infection prevention and control procedures to keep people safe.

Medicines were managed safely. Risks to people were assessed and action was taken to reduce the chances of them occurring. The registered manager acted on feedback immediately. People were safeguarded from abuse.

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.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 31 May 2017.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.