Caremark Poole & East Dorset

Updated 29 March 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

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert 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. Their area of expertise was with older people.

Service and service type

Caremark Poole & East Dorset is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. We needed to be sure that people were informed that we would be contacting them by telephone, and we needed a manager to be

available to facilitate this inspection.

Inspection site visit activity started on 24 January 2019 and ended on 7 February 2019. We visited the office location on 4 February 2019 to see the registered manager and staff. We reviewed people's care records, policies and procedures, records relating to the management of the service, training records and the recruitment records of care workers.

What we did

We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. (PIR) This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public. We spoke with two staff people during our visit.

An expert by experience spoke with 11 people and one relative by telephone on the 24 and 25 January 2019.

We requested further information from the registered manager related to the service, this was provided promptly.

Updated 29 March 2019

What life is like for people using this service:

¿ The registered manager had implemented several new processes which had resulted in safer practice.

¿ Medication Administration Records were being monitored on a weekly basis to ensure any gaps or errors were identified and action taken.

¿ The majority of people felt safe and well cared for by staff. We informed the registered manager of comments which suggested certain staff conduct was not as the person expected. The registered manager took immediate action to investigate.

¿ All care plans had been reviewed to unsure they reflected the person’s needs.

¿ A system for assessing people’s risk in an event which effects the service from running had been introduced.

¿ People and their relatives were fully involved in assessing and planning the care and support they received. People were referred to health care professionals as required.

¿ People's privacy was protected and they were treated with dignity and respect.

¿ New staff had been recruited and there was a clear management structure in place.

¿ Staff received regular training and felt supported by their line manager.

¿ People and relatives knew how to make a complaint and felt confident they would be listened to if they needed to raise any concerns.

¿ People and staff expressed confidence in the management team and felt the service was well led.

Rating at last inspection:

Requires Improvement (The date last report published was 3 March 2018).

About the service: Caremark Poole & East Dorset is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. Not everyone using Caremark Poole and East Dorset receives a regulated activity; 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.

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. The service has improved and was rated Good in all areas, therefore rated Good overall..

Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our inspection schedule for those services rated as Good.