Background to this inspection
Updated
16 December 2022
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 undertaken by one inspector.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal 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 announced this inspection, to check that the service could support the inspection using remote technology.
Inspection activity started on 22 November 2022 when we announced the inspection and started to request information and ended on 5 December 2022.
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.
During the inspection
This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as telephone calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.
We contacted the registered manager on 22 November 2022, where we provided secure access for electronic file sharing and requested a range of records and contact details for people using the service and staff. Between 23 November and 1 December 2022, we reviewed records including five people’s care records, medicines administration records, training records, two staff recruitment records and records relating to the governance of the service including audits and policies and procedures. We spoke with 13 people who used the service and seven relatives on the telephone. We also spoke with six care staff members and received electronic feedback from the care coordinator.
We spoke with the registered manager and operations director on a video call on 25 November 2022. We fed back our findings of the inspection to the registered manager and operations director on 5 December 2022.
Updated
16 December 2022
About the service
Westminster Homecare Limited (Ipswich) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. 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. At the time of our inspection there were 39 people using the personal care service.
At the time of the inspection, the location did not provide personal care 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.
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.
Right Care: People’s care plans reflected the individual needs people required and guided staff in how people’s needs, preferences and rights, for example privacy and independence, were met.
Right Culture: People told us the staff who supported them were caring and compassionate.
There were systems in place to provide people with a safe service. This included safe recruitment, management of medicines and the assessment and mitigation of risk. Ongoing recruitment reduced the risks of missed visits, the system in place supported the management team to identify associated risks and address them. Staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and had been trained in infection control. Where we had received feedback about concerns about infection control, the management team took immediate action.
Since our last inspection there had been a change in leadership. People using the service and staff were updated about the changes at the time. There was a range of audits and monitoring systems in place to assist the management team to identify any shortfalls and address them. People were asked for their views about the service they received and these were used to drive improvement, for example updating people’s care plans where required.
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 (published 4 March 2020).
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about missed visits and care plans being out of date. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks. There had been a recent change in management in the service, we wanted to be assured of the governance and leadership in the service. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report. The overall rating for the service has not changed and remains good based on the findings of this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Westminster Homecare Limited (Ipswich) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.