Archived: Quality Care Providers (Domiciliary Care)

Updated 4 May 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check 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 31 March and 1 April 2016. It was carried out by one inspector and was announced. We gave the service prior notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure someone would be in the office. We were assisted on the days of our inspection by the service manager.

Before the inspection the service completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the PIR and at all the information we had collected about the service. This included previous inspection reports and notifications the service had sent us. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law.

We spoke with three people using the service, three relatives, the service manager, a team leader, a senior support worker and a support worker. We sought and obtained feedback from two social care professionals. We observed people and staff working together during the two days of our inspection.

We looked at three people's care plans, daily records and medication administration records. We also looked at the recruitment files of four care staff and staff training records. We saw a number of documents relating to the management of the service. For example, quality audits, quality assurance surveys of relatives, complaints records and incident and accident reports.

Updated 4 May 2016

This inspection took place on 31 March and 1 April 2016 and was announced. We gave the service prior notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service and we needed to make sure someone would be in the office. We last inspected the service on 4 March 2014. At that inspection we found the service was compliant with the essential standards we inspected.

Quality Care Providers (Domiciliary Care) provides personal care to adults living in their own homes. The people they support have varying needs including physical disabilities, mental health, sensory impairment, learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder. At the time of our inspection there were seven people using the service. Of those, six people lived in shared accommodation in supported living facilities. The remaining person lived with their family. The organisation also provides day services at the same address. However, this report only relates to the provision of personal care to the seven people using the service in their own homes. The day opportunity services fall outside the regulatory remit of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and were not assessed as part of this inspection.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC 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 registered manager was not available during this inspection. The service manager was managing the service in the absence of the registered manager and assisted us on both days of the inspection.

Staff had a good understanding of how to keep people safe and their responsibilities for reporting accidents, incidents or concerns. Staff had the knowledge and confidence to identify safeguarding concerns and acted on these to keep people safe.

People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity was promoted. They were treated with care and kindness and they were supported to be as independent as possible. People said their care and support workers were kind and supported them in the way they wanted them to. Staff were responsive to the needs of the people they supported and enabled them to improve and maintain their independence with personal care. Risks to people’s personal safety were assessed and plans were in place to minimise those risks.

People received support that was individualised to their specific needs. Their needs were monitored and care plans reviewed and updated as changes occurred. People's rights to make their own decisions, where possible, were protected. People confirmed they were involved in decision-making about their care and support needs.

There were safe medicines administration systems in place and people received their medicines when required. People's health and wellbeing was monitored and prompt action was taken to deal with any problems as needed.

People were supported by sufficient staff to meet their individual needs. Safe recruitment practices were followed before new staff were employed to work with people. Checks were made to ensure staff were of good character and suitable for their role.

People received effective care and support from staff who were well trained and knew how people liked things done. Staff received effective supervision and their work was reviewed in yearly appraisals.

People benefitted from receiving a service from staff who worked well together and felt management worked with them as a team. Quality assurance systems were in place to monitor the quality of service being delivered and the running of the service.