Armour Care Services

Updated 3 December 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 completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own or their families, houses and 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, who was also the registered provider.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 3 November 2022 and ended on 7 November 2022. We visited the location’s office on 3 November 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since their registration. 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 1 person who used the service and 3 relatives by telephone about the care provided by Armour Care Services. We spoke with 4 members of care staff about the service and also spoke with 3 members of staff including the registered manager, compliance manager and the care co-ordinator. We sought feedback from a case manager who worked with the service.

We reviewed a range of records, including two people’s care and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance, complaints and safeguarding were reviewed.

Updated 3 December 2022

About the service

Armour Care Services is a domiciliary care agency. It provided personal care to people living in their own and their family's homes. The service supported adults with a range of complex support needs, including people who had a physical or learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our inspection, the service was providing support to 5 people, all of whom received support with the regulated activity ‘personal care’.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

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

References had not been obtained for all new staff prior to starting work. All other pre-employment checks had been completed. We have made a recommendation about ensuring all pre-employment checks are made.

People and their relatives were very positive about the care and support provided by Armour Care Services. A case manager said, “I think that the standard and quality of care and support is excellent.”

Care and support plans identified peoples support needs and provided guidance for meeting these needs and managing identified risks. People and their relatives had been involved in agreeing and reviewing the car and support plans.

People were supported to maintain their health and nutritional needs where applicable. People were supported to take part in local community activities where this was part of the agreed support.

Staff received the training they needed for their role, including specific training from other medical professionals where required. Staff were positive about working for the service and felt well supported by the registered manager. Consistent staff teams supported each person so they knew people’s needs, including their communication needs.

A quality assurance system was in place. Communication between people, their families, the staff teams and the management team were good. Any issues raised were resolved.

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 21 August 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about ensuring all pre-employment checks are made.

Follow up

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