The Winning Box

Updated 21 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 was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience undertook telephone interviews with people and relatives. 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. 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 27 July 2022 and ended on 28 July 2022. We visited the location’s office on 27 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. 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two people who used the service and two relatives of other people about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the registered manager and the deputy manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medicines records for those who were supported with this. We looked at four 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 received feedback about working for the service from three care workers.

Updated 21 September 2022

About the service

The Winning Box is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were six people receiving personal care. This included older people and people living with dementia.

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.

At the time of the inspection, the provider informed us they had moved the address if their office location to a new address in the same area and had changed the name of the location from Ohio Homecare Ltd to The Winning Box. However, the service continues to maintain the same registration on the CQC register.

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

Care plans and risk assessments were in place and were person-centred. The staff had access to information and clear guidelines about people’s needs to help ensure they supported them safely and met these.

There had been improvements to the way medicines were managed and there were arrangements to ensure people received these safely.

There were suitable systems in place to help protect people from the risk of infection and cross contamination.

The provider had implemented safe recruitment processes. New staff were suitable and had the skills and knowledge they needed to support people. These included recruitment checks, regular training, supervision and appraisal.

People were protected from the risk of avoidable harm. The risks to people's safety and wellbeing had been identified, assessed or managed. The provider had appropriate systems for investigating allegations of abuse, complaints and concerns.

The provider's systems for monitoring and improving quality were operated effectively and there were systems in place to mitigate identified risks. The provider had processes for learning when things went wrong.

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.

People and relatives said staff were kind and caring, treated them with dignity and promoted their independence. People were mostly supported by regular staff which helped to maintain continuity. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities and felt the management team was approachable.

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 30 September 2021) and there were breaches 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.

Why we inspected

We undertook the inspection to see if the provider had made improvements since the last inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.