Vitality Home Health (Sevenoaks)

Updated 21 October 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 carried out by one 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 and treatment of disease, disorder and injury to people living in their own homes.

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. The managing director was a qualified doctor registered with the General Medical Council.

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 used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We reviewed the notifications about important events that had taken place in the service which the provider is required to tell us by law. We contacted health and social care professionals to obtain feedback about their experience of the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight members of staff including the operations director, registered manager, coordinator, and four care staff including supervisors. We also spoke with the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We obtained feedback from three people who use the service and seven relatives about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback from the local authority commissioning team. We reviewed a range of records, including eight peoples’ assessments and care records. 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 staff rotas and service user guide were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training and audit records, risk assessments and notes from the management on call service.

Updated 21 October 2021

About the service

Vitality Home Health Sevenoaks is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and treatment of disease, disorder and injury for people in their own homes. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks such as personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 28 people.

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

People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm; staff had completed training in safeguarding and recognising signs of abuse. Medicines and risks to people were managed. One person told us, “Yes, I feel safe. They are friendly, nice, kind people.” Relatives praised the kindness and efficiency of the care workers and the professionalism of the management team. One relative said, “Yes, I do think [relative] is safe, and they do as well. They tell them what they are going to do and what they need to do. They are very careful, very competent and are aware of what [my relative] can and cannot do, and what is comfortable for them.”

Peoples’ needs were assessed, and person-centred care plans developed with them. Care workers had enough information to provide safe care for people. Staff had been recruited safely and attended training to prepare them for their role. One relative said, “They seem to know how to do the job and if they don’t know they ask.” A person told us, “The one that comes to see me has had enough training, yes.” Staff had access to policies and procedures to guide them in their day to day work. Care plans were monitored regularly.

The management team was committed to providing a high-quality service and worked in partnership with other professionals, such as the local authority and primary health care services. Managers carried out appropriate checks to ensure that the quality of the service was continually reviewed and where necessary improved. The managing director was a qualified doctor, registered with the General Medical Council.

Relatives were very positive about Vitality Home Health. One relative said, “For me it is peace of mind and I have more energy to do the rest of the things [my relative] needs during the day. It is hard caring for someone, and it gives me a nice start to the morning.”

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

This service was registered with us on 30/04/2020 and this was the first inspection. This service has been rated good at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the timescales for unrated services.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.