Background to this inspection
Updated
25 November 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.
This was a targeted inspection to check on concerns we had received about manual handling, incidents of safeguarding not being reported or investigated, and action not being taken in response to changes in people’s needs.
Inspection team
This inspection was carried out by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own flats.
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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 28 October 2022 and ended on 4 November 2022. We visited the location’s office on 31 October 2022.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 two relatives of people using the service and five members of staff. We also spoke with the registered manager, head of operations and health and safety manager.
We reviewed care and support records for three people, staff training information, safeguarding records, incident management, complaints, meeting minutes and weekly staff updates.
Updated
25 November 2022
About the service
The Chocolate Quarter Homecare Service is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to adults with a range of support needs who are living in their own homes. Not everyone who uses the service receives the regulated activity of personal care. 21 people were receiving support with their personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where people do receive personal care, we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were happy with the care they received, and they told us they felt safe when receiving care from the service. People's care visits took place at consistent times, to suit their preferences. There were systems in place to ensure people's medicines were managed safely and people were protected from the risk of infection. Staff knew how to safeguard people from the risk of abuse and other identified risks to people were assessed and mitigated.
Before people started using the service, their needs and preferences were assessed, to ensure the service could provide the level of care each person wanted. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported by staff who received training to ensure they had the right knowledge and skills to support people effectively. Regular spot checks were carried out to ensure competency.
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 were treated well by staff who were kind, caring and who went beyond the expectation of their roles to support people. Staff had built positive relationships with clients and their families. Feedback was regularly obtained from people using the service about individual staff, to ensure they were compatible with each other.
People received personalised care that was responsive to their needs. People told us the service was flexible and their preferences were adhered to. People said they felt able to raise any issues or concerns should anything arise. The provider had a suitable system in place to manage and act on any complaints.
The service was well led and had an open culture. Staff at all levels displayed a desire to provide good quality, person-centred care to people. The registered manager regularly sought feedback from people to ensure the service was tailored to their needs and preferences. There were systems in place to monitor the quality and the safety of the service provided. Audits were regularly carried out and recorded to enable continuity and to provide oversight on any short falls picked up by the audit.
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 22 July 2021 and this is the first inspection.
The last rating for the service at the previous registered office was good (published on 6 January 2021).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.