Rydale Community Care

Updated 25 February 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by an inspector 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 homes.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since first registration. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people receiving a service and 2 relatives. We spoke with the registered manager and 2 staff members. We reviewed two care plans, medication records and two staff files. We looked at records associated with the management and compliance of the service which included quality checks and audits, staff induction, training records and information used to schedule staff support.

Updated 25 February 2023

Rydale Community Care is a domiciliary care service providing regulated activity of personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to older people, people with dementia, physical disability and sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 18 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People told us they were very happy with the service provided and felt safe with the staff who supported them. Staff had received training to protect people from avoidable harm and abuse and understood how to raise any concerns for further investigation.

Staff received appropriate induction, training, and support as necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they were employed to perform.

The registered manager completed a range of audits and checks to maintain standards of service. Management oversight was used in conjunction with feedback to ensure checks remained effective; to ensure actions identified as requiring improvement were always implemented in a timely way following the provider policy.

Risks associated with people's care were assessed and recorded to help staff provide safe care. Care plans included environmental risk assessments with information used by staff to keep them safe when entering and navigating people’s homes. Where people required support to take their medicines, this was done safely as prescribed with appropriate record keeping checked for accuracy.

People were involved in, and central to planning their care and support. Care was delivered following a robust assessment of needs to ensure people’s wishes, preferences and any personal characteristics were recorded and supported.

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.

Staff had good access to personal protective equipment to manage the risks associated with the spread of infection including CVOID-19 and adhered to government guidance to protect people.

People spoke positively about the service they received and the way the service was managed. They told us they knew when to expect visits from care staff and that visits respected their preferred times and duration.

The registered manager was passionate about providing people with a personalised service to help them remain living as independent as possible in their own homes. People told us that their care was reviewed, and records updated when their care needs changed to ensure staff had the required information to support them in retaining their independence.

The culture of the service was open and empowered individuals to express their views to live their best lives with the support of staff. People told us they felt confident to approach staff and the registered manager and that their suggestions would be listened and responded to.

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 (published 17 December 2021) and there was a breach of regulation. 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 our last inspection we recommended that the provider reviewed and developed the quality assurance system in line with best practice, to ensure it was effective in driving continuous improvement. At this inspection we found the provider had acted on our recommendations and they had made improvements.

Why we inspected

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 19, and 25 October 2021. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve Regulation 19; Fit and proper persons employed.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Rydale Community 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.