Archived: Domiciliary Care Agency

Updated 12 November 2019

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

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 homes. It also operates supported living housing schemes and an outreach service.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. There were four registered managers who each oversaw different areas of the service. 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 48 hours' notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 11 September 2019 and ended on 24 September 2019. We visited the office location on 11 September 2019.

What we did when preparing for and carrying out this inspection:

Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about and we sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During our inspection visit, we spoke with four people using the service and four relatives to ask about their experience of the care provided. We also spoke to four members of care staff, office personnel, the deputy service manager and two of the four registered managers.

We reviewed a range of records. These included five people’s care and medication records. We also looked at eight staff files including supervision records, records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider. We looked at records relating to recruitment, training and systems for monitoring quality. After the first day of the inspection we spoke with staff and relatives by telephone to seek clarification and validate the evidence we found.

Updated 12 November 2019

About the service:

Domiciliary Care Agency run by Autism Anglia is a domiciliary care agency which also operates supported living housing schemes and an outreach service. It provides personal care and support to adults and older people living within their own homes. Not everyone using the service may receive the regulated activity; personal care. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection there were 24 people using the service.

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

People received safe and effective care and support. Risks were assessed and managed to enable people to live independent lives. Staff were vigilant to identify risks and take action to ensure people remained safe. Systems used for the management of medicines were effective and monitoring processes in place ensured these were robust.

People received timely support from a consistent staff team. People's needs were assessed and reviewed to ensure their care needs were met. Care plans were detailed and effective to ensure staff always had access to the most current information.

Staff received training relevant to their role and had good support from the registered manager and their colleagues.

Staff sought people's consent before supporting them and decisions about people's care and treatment were made in line with current law and guidance.

People received enough to eat and drink to maintain their health.

People were supported to access healthcare, and other agencies, when required. The registered manager worked in partnership with health and social care professionals to ensure consistency and ensure people received appropriate support.

People's care was responsive to their changing needs. People, and their relatives, were involved in the assessment and planning of their care and good communication was central to enable people to work together to ensure people's needs were met fully. People knew how to raise a concern and always felt listened to.

People, staff and professionals felt the service was well managed. People, and staff, had regular

opportunities to share their views about the service. The provider carried out audits to ensure the quality of care provided was maintained to a good standard.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: The last rating for this service was Good (Report published 4th March 2017)

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

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