Britannia Homecare Limited

Updated 14 April 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

This inspection was carried out by three inspectors and an Expert by Experience who assisted with telephone calls to relatives and people. 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 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.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service a short amount of notice so that they could gain consent from people for us to call and speak with them. Inspection activity started on 08 March 2021 and ended on 11 March 2021. We visited the office location on 09 March 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. This included any notifications of significant events, such as serious injuries or safeguarding referrals. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke to a health professional who knows the service. We spoke with 10 members of staff as well as the registered manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records. We looked at five people's care plans and associated risk assessments, and five people’s medication records We reviewed four staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We also looked at a variety of quality assurance records which included staff training, infection control, incidents and accidents, complaints, and policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to receive feedback after the inspection from a further two members of staff.

Updated 14 April 2021

About the service

Britannia Homecare is a domiciliary care agency that supports people living in their own homes. Support is provided to a range of people, including those living with dementia, physical disabilities and older people. At the time of inspection 192 people received personal care. 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

People and their relatives told us they were happy with the service and staff looked after them well. They said management were easy to contact and communication was good. People said they felt safe with staff and that they wore personal protective equipment (PPE) when they arrived and washed their hands regularly.

The provider had implemented and developed an effective management team to oversee the delivery of care on a daily basis. Each person in the team had a clearly defined role which made it logical and easy for staff and people to make contact with the appropriate person. The management team were pro-active and had good oversight of the staff team and the quality of their service. They sought feedback from people using their service to help them improve.

Staff gave us very positive feedback about working for the provider. Staff spoke positively about the training and supervision they received.

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 24 October 2019). 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 carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 05 September 2019. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve good governance.

We undertook this inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan following the previous inspection and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Britannia Homecare Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.