Cera Rotherham

Updated 28 January 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by an inspector and two Expert’s 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 and nursing care to people living in their own 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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was to ensure people would be aware we were calling them.

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. 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.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video calls and emails to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. The inspection started on 4 January 2023 and ended on 16 January 2023.

During the inspection we spoke with 12 people who use the service and 11 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback from 5 members of staff including the registered manager and quality manager and care staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included 5 people's care records, policies, training records and audits.

Updated 28 January 2023

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

About the service

Cera Rotherham is a domiciliary care agency providing personal and nursing care to people in

their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 155 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

Right Support:

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.

Risks associated with people’s care and support had been identified and were being monitored. An analysis of accidents and incidents was in place, to ensure that all incidents were effectively analysed to ensure lessons were learnt.

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse. Staff confirmed they received training in safeguarding and could explain what action they would take if they suspected abuse was taking place. People told us they were safe.

Right Care: Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human rights.

People told us staff were all kind and caring. People's privacy and dignity was maintained, and people were encouraged and supported to maintain their independence.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives.

Audits had identified areas that needed strengthening and improvement and action had been taken to address this. We saw a detailed action plan which had achievable and realistic timescales for action to be taken. Information technology systems were used effectively to monitor and improve the quality of care.

Formal feedback was gathered from people to see if they were receiving a good service. Wider feedback had not yet been gathered from staff and stakeholders. However, we were told there were plans to gather feedback later in the year to ensure everyone had the opportunity to provide input.

Appropriate information and assessments were shared with other relevant agencies for the benefit of people who use the service. The service worked in partnership with other professionals, for example GP's, district nurses to ensure people health needs had been met.

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 the service under the previous provider was good, published on 5 October 2019.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations and to provide a rating for the service.

This was an ‘inspection using remote technology’. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.