Essex Cares West

Updated 20 December 2017

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.

This inspection took place on the 10,11 and 26 October 2017. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to be sure that someone would be in.

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and one expert by experience, who carried out phone calls after the visit to the service. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. We also made visits to people in their own home. Prior to the inspection, we reviewed a Provider information return (PIR). This is document that providers are required to send to us, which details any risks at the service.

We spoke to various members of the staff team. This included the registered manager, a physiotherapist, clinical governance lead, three trusted assessors, and three members of care staff. We visited four people and two relatives in their own homes, and spoke to a further six people and one relative by telephone. We also attended a staff meeting at the service.

We also sought information from the local authority and local commissioning teams and other health professionals such as social workers and health visitors.

As part of the inspection we reviewed seven care records, training records, three staff recruitment and support files and records which related to the management of the service.

Updated 20 December 2017

This comprehensive inspection took place on the 10, 11 and 26 of October 2017. We last inspected the service in September 2016 following the service being rated as Inadequate in March 2016 and placed in special measures. In September 2016 we found that the service had made improvements and they achieved a requires improvement rating without breaching the Health and Social Care Act. We found further improvements were needed to medicines management and care plans. During this inspection, we found that the provider had improved these processes and had made significant improvements to the running of the service.

At this inspection we found there were elements of the service that were outstanding. We found that the service was “Outstanding” in the Well-led domain this was because the provider had plans in place to ensure that they continuously learnt and improved. The service was based on core values that were visible at all levels of staffing. This meant that they had created a firm foundation to work towards providing an outstanding service in all areas.

Essex Cares West were providing short six week care packages to 20 people in their own homes. This was a new contract and the service worked within local hospitals, and with the local authority to support people leaving hospital until a permanent care package could be found or people were able to manage independently without support.

A registered manager was in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The safety of people who used the service was taken very seriously and the provider, the registered manager and staff were aware of their responsibility to protect people’s health and wellbeing. There were systems in place to ensure that risks to people’s safety and wellbeing were identified and addressed.

People told us they felt safe. Staff had undertaken training on safeguarding adults from abuse, and put their knowledge into practice. Where staff had raised alerts the service managed the concerns promptly and where required, carrying out thorough investigations to protect people.

We saw that staffing levels were suitable to meet the assessed needs of people in the service. Staff recruitment was thorough with all checks completed before new staff had access to vulnerable people.

People unanimously told us that staff consulted them about how they wanted their care to be provided. People's needs, preferences and goals were recorded in their care plans for staff to consult.

The provider had developed strong links with the local community. They worked alongside other organisations to ensure they followed current good practice in the delivery of people's care.

The provider valued their staff and saw them as an asset to deliver high quality care to people. They appreciated that people wanted consistency in their care and that the way to achieve this was through staff retention. To achieve this they had identified a range of ways to retain their staff, which enabled them to attract and retain good quality staff to deliver high quality care to people.

Staff were encouraged to be involved and help drive continuous improvements. This helped ensure positive progress was made in the delivery of care and support provided by the service.